The price of European leveraged loans in the secondary market has continued to fall this year to record lows with most of the tranches now trading below 90% of face value, highlighting the extent to which demand for high-yield, high-risk securities has plunged.

In a report this week from Standard & Poor’s Leveraged Data & Commentary unit, the rating agency said two-thirds of the leveraged loans taken out by companies rated junk or sub-investment grade are trading 10% below their issue price – up from less than a quarter in December.