ECB Bond Buys Slow To E2.243 Bln In Week Ended January 20

FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank announced on Monday
that it had settled E2.243 billion worth of new sovereign debt purchases
in the week ending January 20, down from the E3.766 billion one week
earlier, but up from the previous period’s E1.104 billion.

The ECB purchases settled last week bring the cumulative total
still on the bank’s balance sheet to E219 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 1030 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 —

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