Italian bond yields hits 3-month low

Biggest weekly fall of 2017

LONDON, June 10, (RTRS): Italian government bond yields tumbled to three-month lows and ended Friday with their biggest weekly fall this year as a failure to reach an agreement on a new electoral law was seen reducing the chances of early parliamentary elections.

Across the eurozone, safe-haven bond yields were pinned near multi-month lows after Thursday’s snap election in Britain left the ruling Conservative party without a majority in parliament just as talks to exit the European Union loom.

In contrast, the prospect of early elections and political uncertainty in Italy — the eurozone’s third biggest economy — appear to have ebbed this week, boosting sentiment towards Italian assets.

The head of the country’s ruling Democratic Party, Matteo Renzi, said he was pessimistic over the chances of reaching a new crossparty pact on a reform of the electoral law. That came a day after a deal between Italy’s top four parties unravelled in parliament.

President Sergio Mattarella, the only figure with the power to dissolve parliament, has demanded new voting rules be drawn up because at present there is too much divergence between the systems for electing members in the upper and lower chambers.

“There has been a lot of pressure on Italian bonds over the last few weeks because the idea of going to elections this year was not welcome for investors,” said UniCredit strategist Luca Cazzulani in Milan. “Because this is now being put under question, the move is retracing.”

Italy’s 10-year government bond yield tumbled over 8 basis points (bps) to a three-month low of 2.085 percent , adding to a 12 bps fall on Thursday.

That meant yields fell almost 17 bps in the week, 20 bps on Thursday and Friday — the biggest twoday slide since October 2015.

The gap between Italian and German bonds yields, a gauge of how investors view relative risks, narrowed to around 183 bps. That’s down from more than 200 bps earlier this week.

Signs this week of progress in addressing weakness in Italian banks and comfort that the European Central Bank shunned talk of unwinding its stimulus scheme at a policy meeting on Thursday also lifted sentiment towards Italian assets.

“We’ve had some good news on the banking sector this week, a shrinking likelihood of snap elections and a positive ECB meeting, so all of this is helping BTPs,” said DZ Bank strategist Christian Lenk.