FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank said Monday that it
purchased E176 million in government bonds in the week ending Friday,
July 23.
The central bank has further slowed its purchases of government
securities after having only purchased bonds worth E302 million in the
previous week.
On Tuesday, the ECB will reabsorb E60.5 billion in cumulative
purchases of government bonds via a quick tender to collect one-week
term deposits, the central bank announced Monday.
The total is equivalent to the number of bonds purchased through
the Securities Market Program and settled as of last Friday, rounded to
the nearest half billion, it said.
“As the settled SMP transactions last week were of a volume of E176
million, the rounded settled amount – and the intended amount for
absorption accordingly — increased to E60.5 billion,” the ECB
explained.
The operation, to be conducted on Tuesday at 9:30 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. These fixed-term deposits can be used as collateral for the
Eurosystem’s credit operations, the bank said.
The ECB said it will conduct another liquidity-absorbing operation
next week.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com —
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