Spread rises ahead of ECB board meeting

(ANSA) - Rome, March 8 - The spread between Italian and German 10-year bond yields rose to 140 points Thursday from 130 at Wednesday's close ahead of today's meeting of the European Central Bank board. The yield on the BTP rose from 1.94% to 2.06%. The ECB is expected to review poor inflation and manufacturing data but leave rates and QE unchanged.