CBPP3 registered a slowdown in buying of over Eu300m last week, partly on the back of a notable decine in the pace of buying on the secondary market. Gross purchases, however, remained in line with 2017’s weekly average.

ECB figures released on Monday show the CBPP3 portfolio grew Eu1.191bn, from Eu232.771bn to Eu233.962bn, in the week to last Friday. Redemption figures released yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon show that no CBPP3 holdings matured last week.

Gross purchases were therefore down from around Eu1.511bn in the previous week, but close to the 2017 average of around Eu1.132bn per week.

Analysts estimated that Eu500m-Eu700m of last week’s CBPP3 purchases were made on the primary market, compared with some Eu600m in the previous week. This implies secondary market purchases averaged Eu98.2m-Eu138m per day last week, down from around Eu171m in the previous week.