Gross CBPP3 purchases dropped to their lowest level since the beginning of the year last week on the back of a decrease in the volume of eligible new issuance settling, with the portfolio ultimately increasing just €291m as redemptions rose.

According to data released by the European Central Bank on Monday relating to settled and outstanding purchases under its various programmes, the CBPP3 portfolio increased from €288.661bn to €288.952bn in the week to last Friday.

This is substantially lower than the €1.042bn net increase the previous week and coincides with an increase in redemptions, from around €100m to €600m, and a drop in the volume of CBPP3-eligible euro benchmark supply, from €1.75bn to €500m.

Gross purchases of around €891m are the lowest weekly amount since the short first week of the year when there was no CBPP3-eligible supply, and well down on the €1.451bn average over the past four full weeks.

The €500m of eligible supply that settled last week comprised a Argenta Spaarbank 10 year transaction, of which central banks and official institutions were allocated 32% (€160m).

This implies gross purchases of up to €731m were made in the secondary market, although two analysts estimated around €820m of secondary purchases, equivalent to around €164m per day – only just shy of the previous week’s €166m secondary rate, as estimated by Crédit Agricole analysts, but further off the €214m per day average of the past four weeks.