A below average rate of buying under CBPP3 continued last week, with the European Central Bank announcing yesterday (Monday) that settled and outstanding purchases as of Friday stood at Eu87.277bn, up Eu2.169bn from Eu85.108bn a week previously.

The increase is below Eu2.303bn the previous week – which also featured more disruption from public holidays.

“The weekly update of the ECB showed that the central bank has not stepped up the pace of coved bond buying yet,” said Joost Beaumont, senior fixed income strategist at ABN Amro, referring to comments by ECB executive board member Benoît Cœuré in mid-May that buying under the expanded asset purchase programme (EAPP) would be front-loaded ahead of an expected summer lull. “In contrast, the weekly increase of Eu2.2bn suggests that the ECB bought around Eu390m a day in the secondary market (given that Eu220m settled in the primary market), which was the lowest reading in four weeks.

“It seems that either investors do not want to sell anymore, or the central bank has become more cautious.”

However, Beaumont – like other analysts – cautioned against reading too much into the latest figures.

Primary market settlements captured by yesterday’s figure include any CBPP3 buying of two deals: a Sparkasse KölnBonn Eu500m seven year of which central banks were allocated 30% (or Eu150m) and a DG Hyp Eu500m nine year of which central banks took 18% (Eu90m) – although an analyst noted that non-CBPP3 central bank buying means that CBPP3’s share of the two deals is probably less than the aggregate Eu240m central bank distribution.

Outstandings under the public sector purchase programme (PSPP) rose Eu12.921bn to Eu159.6bn. The increase was up from Eu12.455bn the previous week, although – as mentioned above – public holidays had been a greater feature the previous week and one analyst noted that the evolution of the figures therefore represented a slowing of buying.