Italy's six-month borrowing costs neared 3 percent at auction on Wednesday, their highest since December, piling pressure on the government as it pushes for concrete steps to ease market tensions at a European Union summit later this week. Italy sold 9 billion euros of six-month bills at an average 2.96 percent yield, up from 2.10 percent it paid only a month ago. The Treasury faces a tougher market test on Thursday when it offers up to 5.5 billion euros in five- and 10-year debt. "Today's bill sale points to the sovereign getting this supply away but at yield levels sufficiently elevated to leave a niggling doubt ... (full story)