- Jesper Berg, senior vice president at Nykredit's regulatory affairs and ratings division
Italy placed 6.5 billion euros of 10-year and 5-year debt in an auction on Thursday. Yields on the 10-year bond declined to 5.82 per cent from 5.96 per cent at a previous auction. Yields on the 5-year bond fell to 4.73 per cent from 5.29 per cent.
"The good auction reflects that there are expectations that the ECB will come up with some sort of solution. It probably won't be anything that finishes the crisis, but something that is a step in the right direction," said Jesper Berg, senior vice president at Nykredit's regulatory affairs and ratings division in Copenhagen.
"It was reassuring that the country did not have any difficulties finding demand for its new 10-year benchmark, even though the upcoming ECB's bond-purchase program is set to be targeted only on [short-dated debt]," said Jan von Gerich, chief strategist at Nordea.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index erased 0.76 per cent to 264.97. Germany's DAX Index fell 1.64 per cent and France's CAC 40 Index slid 1.02 per cent.
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