ECB's quantitative easing delivered strong signal for markets, Noyer says

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's asset purchase programme has already been an effective signal to financial markets, showing policies will be accommodative for a long while, ECB Governing Council member Christian Noyer said on Monday. "The asset purchase programme which will last until the end of September 2016 has been an important and clear signal of the exapansionary monetary policy stance over an extended horizon," Noyer said at a Paris Europlace forum in New York. "Those signalling effects have been very effective," he added, given the "significant movements" in financial markets including lower across-the-board bond yields and higher equity prices. Under a quantitative easing (QE) programme which started in early March, the ECB aims to buy 60 billion euros of bonds a month until September 2016, or until inflation is back on a path towards the bank's target of just under 2 percent. (Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)