LONDON (Reuters) – Italian bonds present a buying opportunity given rising expectations for imminent easing measures from the European Central Bank to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, a fixed income fund manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments said on Wednesday.
Ten-year government bond yields in Italy, at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, have fallen from more than two months highs on rising market expectations that the ECB could act when it meets on Thursday
“We are still underweight Italian bonds, but have bought some bonds back recently on expectations for a ECB policy response,” said Ross Hutchison, a rates fund manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI).
Hutchison is part of the ASI rates team managing 30 billion pounds ($38.79 billion) worth of assets.
The Italian 10-year bond yield was last down 17 basis points on the day at 1.21%.
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes)
