Update: Bank’s CP holdings fall as APF buys £85m

Sales of commercial paper to the Bank of England’s Asset Purchase Facility totalled just £85m in the week ending June 4 2009, the Bank said. It is the lowest weekly total since the first week of May, and the sixth lowest total in the fund's 16-week history. It follows last week’s record high of £701m. The total held by the facility fell to £2.13bn from £2.293bn the previous week. The fund passed the three month mark last month and it dropped the three month maturity requirement in late April to allow purchases of CP with any maturity between one week and three months. It is only the second week that the facility’s holdings have fallen.