CBPP3 buying registered an increase last week to rise closer to the recent average, with the Eurosystem picking up more paper as eligible issuance became available. Secondary purchases were meanwhile maintained at the previous week’s elevated level.

ECB figures released on Monday afternoon show that in the week to last Friday, the CBPP3 portfolio grew Eu824m, from Eu223.046bn to Eu223.870bn. Portfolio redemption figures released yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon show that around Eu400m of CBPP3 holdings matured last week. Gross purchases therefore amounted to around Eu1.224bn last week.

This is up from gross purchases of Eu816m in the previous week, and is slightly above the long term average since the ECB lowered its monthly QE target to Eu60bn in April.

The increase was attributed by analysts to an increase in eligible issuance, with a Eu1.25bn tap for ABN Amro having settled last week, whereas no eligible benchmarks settled in the previous week.

Analysts estimated that the Eurosystem bought around Eu400m-Eu500m of ABN Amro’s deal, implying that secondary market purchases averaged around Eu145m-Eu165m per day last week. This is in line with the daily average of Eu163m in the previous week, which was the highest since the week ending 21 April.

The ECB’s governing council will meet tomorrow (Thursday), but no changes to CBPP3 are expected to be announced. The market consensus is that a tapering of purchases, beginning next year, will be announced after the governing council’s September meeting.