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Measuring and Analyzing the Liquidity of the Italian Treasury Security Wholesale Secondary Market

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  • Coluzzi, Chiara
  • Ginebri, Sergio
  • Turco, Manuel

Abstract

Although its importance, only recently the issue of liquidity in Treasury markets has received greater attention. We survey the literature about market liquidity and liquidity measures, and we put forward new measures. The aim is to provide a description of the liquidity of the Italian wholesale secondary market, which we describe thoroughly. We apply a large set of measures on a unique dataset, which gives us a complete view of the market. Even though the market provides an amount of liquidity that fits the market needs, the quality of the order book is low, and despite the presence of a large number of market makers, the degree of competition among them is not very high. Moreover, no clear and general relationship emerges between trading and order book measures. Indeed, even though trading activity is higher for on-the-run securities with respect to the off-the-run securities, there is not a sharp difference in terms of liquidity of the order book between them. In this case market regulation plays an important role. Finally, we investigate how long it takes for a new issue to become the benchmark for its segment. Our evidence shows that some modifications of the issuance policy in order to have a larger outstanding since the first auction could help securities in gaining earlier their benchmark status, especially in case of 10-year BTPs.

Suggested Citation

  • Coluzzi, Chiara & Ginebri, Sergio & Turco, Manuel, 2008. "Measuring and Analyzing the Liquidity of the Italian Treasury Security Wholesale Secondary Market," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp08044, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mol:ecsdps:esdp08044
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Gómez-Puig, Marta & Pieterse-Bloem, Mary & Sosvilla-Rivero, Simón, 2023. "Dynamic connectedness between credit and liquidity risks in euro area sovereign debt markets," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Z. Sun & P. A. Hamill & Y. Li & Y. C. Yang & S. A. Vigne, 2019. "Did long-memory of liquidity signal the European sovereign debt crisis?," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 282(1), pages 355-377, November.
    4. O’Sullivan, Conall & Papavassiliou, Vassilios G., 2020. "On the term structure of liquidity in the European sovereign bond market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    5. Paiardini, Paola, 2015. "Informed trading in parallel bond markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 103-121.
    6. Goldstein, Michael A. & Namin, Elmira Shekari, 2023. "Corporate bond liquidity and yield spreads: A review," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Schneider, Michael & Lillo, Fabrizio & Pelizzon, Loriana, 2016. "How has sovereign bond market liquidity changed? An illiquidity spillover analysis," SAFE Working Paper Series 151, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    8. Simona Delle Chiaie & Bernardo Maggi, 2014. "Italian Government debt liquidity, is it of value?," DSS Empirical Economics and Econometrics Working Papers Series 2014/3, Centre for Empirical Economics and Econometrics, Department of Statistics, "Sapienza" University of Rome.
    9. Pelizzon, Loriana & Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Tomio, Davide & Uno, Jun, 2016. "Sovereign credit risk, liquidity, and European Central Bank intervention: Deus ex machina?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 86-115.
    10. Marta Gómez-Puig & Mary Pieterse-Bloem & Simón Sosvilla-Rivero, 2022. ""Dynamic connectedness between credit and liquidity risks in EMU sovereign debt markets"," IREA Working Papers 202217, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Oct 2022.
    11. Pelizzon, Loriana & Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Tomio, Davide & Uno, Jun, 2015. "Sovereign credit risk, liquidity, and ECB intervention: Deus ex machina?," SAFE Working Paper Series 95, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    12. Coluzzi, Chiara & Ginebri, Sergio, 2008. "Order Dynamics in the Italian Treasury Security Wholesale Secondary Market," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp08050, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    13. Buis, Boyd & Pieterse-Bloem, Mary & Verschoor, Willem F.C. & Zwinkels, Remco C.J., 2020. "Expected issuance fees and market liquidity," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liquidity; liquidity measures; Government securities; market microstructure; benchmark status.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D49 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Other
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

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