FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – German government bonds rose significantly in price on Friday. The trend-setting futures contract Euro Bund Future rose by 0.51 percent to 144.40 points in the afternoon. The yield on ten-year Bunds fell to 1.65 percent. The previous day it had risen to its highest level since the beginning of 2014 at up to 1.92 percent.
Bonds from southern European countries posted significant price gains. Prices rose particularly strongly in Greece, followed by Italy, Spain and Portugal. The market referred to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, according to which ECB President Christine Lagarde the finance ministers euro zone about the planned new instrument to limit risk premiums. The European Central Bank (ECB) wants to use this to bring bond yields, which have recently risen sharply, under control.
For weeks now, the increasingly tight monetary policy many central banks. In return, the prices of many government bonds have collapsed at historically high speeds. Bonds from southern European countries were hit particularly hard, as the ECB intends to stop buying new government bonds soon.
Most recently, the Swiss central bank caught many market participants on the wrong foot with a significant interest rate hike. Other major central banks such as the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have recently continued their tightening course. The Fed even accelerated it this week. The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced a key rate hike of 0.25 percentage points for July./jsl/stw