Italian bond spread closes week at 233 basis points
(ANSA) – Milan, October 18 – European financial markets ended the week showing healthy gains on Friday as investors were cheered news of strong growth in the massive Chinese economy.
Milan’s key FTSE Mib rose by 0.38% to close at 19,271.02 points as European investors were buoyed by reports of 7.8% growth during the third quarter in China compared with the same period last year.
The world’s second-biggest economy had posted GDP growth rates of 7.7% and 7.5% respectively during the first two quarters of this year. The Italian bond market held its ground on the positive report, maintaining the spread between Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond and its ultra-safe German counterpart.
The spread closed at 233 basis points, unchanged from Thursday’s close, with the yield on Italy’s 10-year paper closing at 4.16%.
The spread between lending rates in the two countries is an important indication of investor faith in the Italian economy, and of the ability of the factions in the coalition government to work cooperatively to cope with a lingering recession.
Other European markets, Spain’s IBEX 35 broke the 10,000-point barrier, climbing by 0.84% to close at 10,001.80 points, and Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.60%, closing at 8,865.10 points.
In Paris, the CAC 40 jumped by 1.09%, ending trading at 4,286.03 points, while in London, the FTSE index of leading shares rose by 0.71% on the day, closing at 6,622.58.