FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank abstained from making
bond purchases through its Securities Markets Programme for the second
consecutive week, the central bank announced on Monday.
The last time any bond buys made by the ECB were settled was in the
week ending February 25, when the bank reported purchases totalling E369
million.
As a result, the total amount of bond buys to be drained was
unchanged at E77.5 billion, the central bank said. The ECB will drain
that amount in a quick tender to collect one-week term deposits.
The operation, to be conducted on Tuesday at 10:30 GMT, will be in
the form of a variable-rate tender with a maximum bid rate of 1.00%, the
bank said. The liquidity will be held for one week at the bank as a term
deposit. The fixed-term deposits can be used as collateral in the
Eurosystem’s credit operations.
The central bank also said it intends to hold another
liquidity-absorbing operation next week.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com —
[TOPICS: MGX$$$,M$X$$$,M$$EC$]
