Update: Bank’s CP purchases shoot to £394m as APF passes three month mark

Sales of commercial paper to the Bank of England’s Asset Purchase Facility shot up to their highest weekly level since early March this week. During the week ending May 21 2009, the fund bought £394m of corporate CP, up from £174m the previous week, the bank said. It is the highest weekly total since the week ending March 12 — when the facility bought £561m — and the third highest weekly total since the fund was launched in mid-February. It is likely that most of the issuance is due to rolling maturities, as the fund passed the three month mark last week, and it purchases paper with a three month maturity. Nonetheless, the total held by the facility climbed from £2.209bn last week to £2.24bn this week.