FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank slowed its purchases of
sovereign EMU debt last week to E603 million on bonds that settled by
last Friday, the ECB announced Monday.
The figure was well down from the E2.667 billion in purchases made
the week prior and is in fact the lowest amount settled since October,
during which time the central bank had make only E9 million in bond
buys.
The bond purchases made over the past week brought the total amount
of bond buys to 72.5 billion, rounded to the nearest half-billion, which
the ECB said that it would reabsorb 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$]
