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Belgian bond slightly firmer

BRUSSELS: Belgian bonds ended slightly firmer, underpinned by Belgian central bank rate cuts.

A lot of buying interest was noted in shorter maturities. "Belgium is particularly well-bid at the short end, though there's no massive interest from clients," one dealer said.

The benchmark 2005 OLO yielded 7.18 pct percent at the close, down from 7.20 percent yesterday. The September bond future ended four basis points higher at 111.84.

The Belgian central bank trimmed its central and end-of-day rates by 10 basis points each to 4.30 percent and 5.55 percent, hot on the heels of a nine bp repo rate cut by the Bundesbank.

Dealers said the rate cuts were supportive but had been widely discounted by the Belgian bond and money markets.

Firmer U.S. Treasuries, despite news of a higher-than- expected revised 1.1 percent growth in U.S. second quarter GDP, helped sentiment in the afternoon.

Players are likely to remain sidelined tomorrow, already focusing on U.S. data due Friday which include monthly jobs figures and leading indicators.

In the money markets three month T-bills were yielding 4.32/33 percent against 4.34/36 percent at the previous close.-Reuter