The Eurosystem registered some Eu1.74bn, gross, of covered bond purchases last week, with settlements falling slightly from the previous week but still above the recent average, as the programme’s more active presence in secondary market was maintained.

European Central Bank figures released on Monday show the CBPP3 portfolio increased Eu1.34bn, from Eu209.664bn to Eu211.004bn, in the week to last Friday. Portfolio redemption figures released yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon show that around Eu400m of CBPP3 holdings matured last week, implying gross purchases of around Eu1.74bn – down from around Eu2.1bn in the previous week.

Last week, Eu1.95bn of CBPP3-eligible issuance settled, of which analysts estimated that the Eurosystem bought around Eu700m-Eu800m. This implies that secondary market purchases averaged Eu180m-Eu210m per day – the programme’s highest secondary settlements since the week ending 15 July 2016, according to figures from Crédit Agricole analysts.

Analysts noted this was the second consecutive week in which secondary market buying remained above the average of the latter half of 2016 and the levels recorded in January. In the previous week, secondary market purchases averaged Eu250m-Eu265m per day – the highest secondary settlements since the week ending 1 July – according to analysts’ estimates.