CBPP3 registered a substantial fall in secondary market purchases last week to one of the lowest daily averages of 2017, according to analysts’ estimates, but with the Eurosystem taking around Eu800m of eligible new issuance, the decline in gross purchases was a modest Eu100m.

ECB figures released on Monday show that in the week to last Friday, the CBPP3 portfolio increased Eu1.065bn, from Eu216.374m to Eu217.439bn. Portfolio redemption figures released yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon show that no CBPP3 holdings matured last week. Gross purchases therefore fell around Eu100m from the gross purchases of around Eu1.16bn in the previous week.

This week’s figure relates to just four days of buying, due to public holidays on Monday of last week (1 May).

Two CBPP3-eligible deals settled last week, a Eu750m issue for UniCredit and a Eu1.5bn issue for Crédit Agricole, of which central banks and official institutions were allocated 49% and 50%, respectively. Analysts estimated the Eurosystem’s share of the two deals totalled Eu800m – up from an estimated Eu500m of primary market purchases in the previous week – implying that secondary market purchases averaged around Eu66m per day last week.

This is the lowest daily average under the programme since the week ending 13 January, according to analysts’ estimates, and a sizeable fall from the previous week’s average of around Eu132m per day.