CBPP3 buying registered its fastest pace in almost three months last week, according to aggregate and redemption figures released by the ECB, with a busy primary market and steady secondary purchases cited as contributing to a jump from the previous week’s total.

According to figures released by the European Central Bank on Monday, settled and outstanding purchases under the third covered bond purchase programme rose Eu1.477bn to Eu193.006bn as of Friday from Eu191.529bn a week previously. This net increase reflected Eu0.1bn of redemptions, according to ECB figures released yesterday (Tuesday), implying gross buying of some Eu1.577bn, compared with Eu894m the previous week.

The week’s gross buying is the highest since the week-ending 24 June, when Eu2.119bn was purchased, according to Crédit Agricole figures.

Analysts attributed the pick-up in CBPP3’s pace to an increase in new issuance.

“The increase mainly stemmed from purchases in the primary market, as four new deals settled last week,” said Joost Beaumont, senior fixed income strategist at ABN Amro, “of which we estimate that the central bank bought around Eu750m in total.”

Other analysts also estimated primary purchases at around Eu750m, which implies average daily secondary buying of some Eu165m – around the middle of the range over the past couple of months, but below the Eu200m averages of the first half of the year.

“The latter suggests that it has become harder to find paper in the secondary market,” added Beaumont, “which the central bank also admitted during the ECBC plenary meeting last week.”

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Buying under the public sector purchase programme (PSPP) decreased slightly last week to Eu15.962bn, while the corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP) hit a high of Eu2.657bn.