The yield on Italian 10-year bonds
fell to a low of 3.11% during trading Tuesday, levels not seen
since the birth of the euro in 1999.
Analysts said that demand has been steadily rising for
Italian paper, particularly since the European Central Bank
President Mario Draghi pledged in mid-2012 to take whatever
action was needed to protect the common currency, the euro.
The rising yield on the 10-year BTP helped to reduce its
spread with the equivalent German Bund -usually judged by
markets to be very safe - to 160 basis points.
That is well below the peak of almost 500 basis points for
the spread reached in November 2011, when it appeared that Italy
was teetering on the brink of a Greek-style financial meltdown.
The yield at that time on Italian BTP peaked at about
7.17%.
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