FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank announced on Monday
that it had settled no bond buys in the week ending March 23, remaining
on the sidelines for the second consecutive week after E27 million worth
of new sovereign debt purchases over the prior period.
Taking into account the E4.273 billion in bonds having matured last
week, the cumulative total still on the bank’s balance sheet fell to
E213.5 billion. As usual, the central bank said it will seek to
sterilize the entire amount through a quick tender to collect one-week
term deposits.
The deposit tender, to be held Tuesday at 0930 GMT/0530 ET, will be
conducted as a variable-rate operation with a maximum bid rate of 1.0%,
the ECB said. The fixed-term deposits can be used as collateral in the
Eurosystem’s credit operations.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com —
[TOPICS: M$$CR$,M$X$$$,M$XDS$,MN$MM$,M$$EC$]
