CBPP3 purchases of €1.289bn reported by the ECB for last week were up €161m on the previous week, rising moderately as the volume of eligible supply increased from €2.5bn to €3.5bn.

European Central Bank figures released yesterday (Monday) show that in the week to last Friday (14 February), settled and outstanding CBPP3 purchases grew €1.289bn, from €268.424bn to €269.713bn. Gross purchases constituted €1.289bn given that no CBPP3 holdings matured, according to ECB data released today (Tuesday).

The €1.289bn increase is €161m greater than the €1.128bn net increase for the week prior. Last week €3.5bn of CBPP3-elligible supply settled, versus €2.5bn the previous week.

Joost Beaumont, senior fixed income strategist, ABN Amro, characterised the pace of Eurosystem covered bond purchases as remaining at “relatively high” levels.

“Overall, the data underline once again that the Eurosystem is (and will be) a dominant player in the covered bond market, supporting spreads,” he added.

Beaumont estimated the Eurosystem bought €800m, or 23%, of the €3.5bn of CBPP3-elligible benchmark supply that settled last week. This would imply it bought around €100m a day on the secondary market, down from an estimated €156m the previous week and €190m the week before that.

At 16.5%, CBPP3’s contribution to the net increase in the overall asset purchase programme (APP) was slightly down from 18.1% the week before.