Investing.com - Italy saw borrowing costs fall to the lowest levels on record at an auction of five-and-ten-year government bonds on Thursday, amid growing expectations for fresh easing measures by the European Central Bank.
Italy’s Treasury sold €4 billion worth of ten-year debt at an average yield of 2.39%, down from 2.6% at a similar auction last month.
Rome also sold €2.5 billion of five-year debt at an average yield of 1.1%, compared to a yield of 1.2% in July.
The yield on Italian 10-year bonds stood at 2.449% following the auction, while the euro held on to losses against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD falling 0.06% to trade at 1.3185.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were lower. Italy's FTSE MIB dropped 1.2%, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 declined 1%, France’s CAC 40 slumped 0.8%, Germany's DAX lost 1.1%, while London’s FTSE 100 inched down 0.4%.