LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - A sell off in European markets
gathered momentum on Thursday after comments from European
Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde failed to shore up
sentiment.
Earlier the ECB unveiled a series of easing measures to
buffer the economy from the coronavirus outbreak but kept
interest rates unchanged.
The euro was last down more than 1% on the day at $1.11740
EUR=EBS , while European shares .STOXX were down 10%.
The euro zone banking index .SX7E extended its losses and
was last down 9.5%.
In bond markets, Italian bonds bore the brunt of a selloff
and were last up almost 60 basis points on the day at
1.77% IT10YT=RR
The gap between Germany's 10-year yield and those of
lower-rated Southern European countries - effectively a gauge of
credit risk on the latter - jumped, with the gap with Portugal
widening to a one-year high at 135 bps. DE10PT10=RR
The Italian/German 10-year bond yield gap hit almost 250
basis points, the highest since June. DE10IT10=RR
A key market measure of long-term eurozone inflation
expectations meanwhile fell to a fresh record low below 0.88%.