FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank announced on Monday
that no bond buys were settled through its Securities Market Programme
last week.

Having abstained from any bond purchases for the ninth consecutive
week, the ECB said it will again seek to drain E75 billion next week in
a quick tender to collect one-week term deposits.

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 1.25%, it
said. The liquidity will be held at the central bank for one week 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

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