Banks reduce ECB funding, peripheral popularity dives

Investors in the CP market this week turned to triple-A names from Scandinavia, Australia, France and Germany and shunned riskier credits as peripheral popularity plummeted. Elsewhere, banks took up just Eu12.5bn of financing from a European Central Bank tender operation on Thursday as Eu37.5bn of funding fell due, indicating Spanish and Portuguese banks are reducing their central bank funding.