ROME: European benchmarks closed at higher Tuesday after the euro fell in the wake of the European Central Bank (ECB) saying its monthly bond-buying programme would be temporarily increased and as Greece’s finance minister raised hopes of a bailout deal.
Benoit Caeure, a member of the executive board of the ECB, said that there are seasonal patterns in fixed-income market activity with the traditional holiday period from mid-July to August characterised by notably lower market liquidity.
He said that the Eurosystem has taken this into account in the implementation of its expanded asset purchase programme by “moderately frontloading its purchase activity in May and June”. This will allow the bank to maintain its monthly average of 60 billion euros ($66.94 billion), while having to buy less in the holiday period, Caeure said.
