Italian 10-year bond yield drops to euro-era low

(ANSA) - Rome, April 15 - 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%.