Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/350843
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 JULY 2014 11 Business Today Money Market Report for the week ending July 18, 2014 Exchange Rates Issue Date: 22-Jul-14 Set: 2 Issue Time: 14:44:48 Value Date: 24/07/2014 Currency Cash Cash Non-Cash Non-Cash Revaluation Buying Selling Selling Buying British Pound (GBP) 0.8245 0.7662 0.7702 0.8096 0.7899 United States Dollar (USD) 1.4059 1.3066 1.3133 1.3807 1.3470 Swiss Franc (CHF) 1.2681 1.1785 1.1845 1.2453 1.2149 Australian Dollar (AUD) 1.4974 1.3916 1.3987 1.4705 1.4346 Canadian Dollar (CAD) 1.5115 1.4047 1.4119 1.4843 1.4481 Japanese Yen (JPY) 142.8000 132.7057 133.3898 140.2303 136.8100 Danish Krone (DKK) 7.7900 7.2400 7.2700 7.6500 7.4600 Swedish Kronor (SEK) 9.6400 8.9600 9.0100 9.4700 9.2400 Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) 10.8985 10.1284 10.1807 10.7027 10.4417 Norwegian Krone (NOK) 8.7000 8.0900 8.1300 8.5500 8.3400 New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 1.6224 1.5078 1.5155 1.5933 1.5544 Singapore Dollar (SGD) 1.7440 1.6208 1.6291 1.7127 1.6709 South African Rand (ZAR) 14.8915 13.8393 13.9106 14.6240 14.2673 Czech Koruna (CZK) 28.6800 26.6600 26.7930 28.1670 27.4800 Polish Zloty (PLN) 4.3300 4.0200 4.0419 4.2491 4.1455 Hungarian Forint (HUF) 339.7662 290.3432 301.1595 316.6060 308.8803 Moroccan Dirham (MAD) 12.3310 10.5374 ********* ********* 11.2100 Tunisian Dinar (TND) 2.4300 2.2600 2.2689 2.3853 2.3271 United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) 5.4424 4.6507 4.8239 5.0713 4.9476 Bahraini Dinar (BHD) 0.5587 0.4774 ********* ********* 0.5079 Gibraltar Pound (GIP) 0.8688 0.7424 ********* ********* 0.7898 Israeli New Sheqel (ILS) 5.0617 4.3254 ********* ********* 4.6015 Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) 0.4188 0.3579 ********* ********* 0.3807 Saudi Riyal (SAR) 5.5572 4.7489 ********* ********* 5.0520 Turkish New Lira (TRY) ********* ********* 2.7811 2.9237 2.8524 Thailand BAHT (THB) ********* ********* 41.7523 43.8933 42.8229 Chinese Renminbi (CNY Onshore) ********* ********* 8.1469 8.5647 8.3558 Chinese Renminbi (CNH Offshore) ********* ********* 8.1474 8.5652 8.3563 All Chinese Renminbi transactions, irrespective of amounts, are to be referred to Branches or Treasury. Rates shown here are indicative only and are subject to change without notice. The final exchange rate offered by the bank /applied to your transaction may vary from the rate indicated here. Our staff at the Branches or Treasury will be pleased to provide you with exchange rates for your specific transactions. The rates quoted above are against the euro. 20.79 20.84 1303.65 1304.45 US Dollars per TROY ounce Value Date Currency Same Day EUR/GBP/USD/CAD SILVER GOLD D + 1 SEPA payments and payments sent to countries and in the currencies regulated by the Payments Services Directive (PSD) D + 2 All Other Currencies PUBLIC YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt Regular market closed – 22/07/2014 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change Twap s BOV 12643 26459.980 7 2.098 2.080 2.080 2.098 0.008 2.093 l GO 4232 9743.600 3 2.320 2.285 2.285 2.300 0.000 2.302 t HSB 1500 3148.500 2 2.099 2.099 2.099 2.099 -0.001 2.099 s IHI 2982 2120.200 1 0.711 0.711 0.711 0.711 0.011 0.711 t G14B 17937 18290.360 2 101.970 101.970 101.970 101.970 -0.040 101.970 t G15A 13977 14657.680 1 104.870 104.870 104.870 104.870 -0.040 104.870 l G16B 53111 58209.650 3 109.600 109.600 109.600 109.600 0.000 109.600 s G17C 80000 88824.000 6 111.030 111.030 111.030 111.030 0.010 111.030 t G18A 2329 2944.090 1 126.410 126.410 126.410 126.410 -0.020 126.410 t G20B 68600 79953.300 4 116.550 116.550 116.550 116.550 -0.030 116.550 t G21A 262708 315505.820 7 120.100 120.070 120.100 120.070 -0.010 120.100 t G22A 107750 130560.680 7 121.170 121.170 121.170 121.170 -0.010 121.170 t G22B 53000 61082.500 7 115.250 115.250 115.250 115.250 -0.010 115.250 t G23A 30 37.490 1 124.950 124.950 124.950 124.950 -0.020 124.970 s G28A 271000 314395.500 9 116.050 116.000 116.000 116.050 0.010 116.010 s G28B 2158700 2429297.400 47 112.580 112.500 112.500 112.550 0.050 112.540 t G29A 254200 302803.040 8 119.120 119.120 119.120 119.120 -0.010 119.120 l G30A 183400 220192.910 14 120.090 120.040 120.090 120.040 0.000 120.060 l G31A 101000 119240.600 6 118.060 118.060 118.060 118.060 0.000 118.060 t G32A 285000 312958.500 14 109.810 109.810 109.810 109.810 -0.070 109.810 t G32BA 350700 375337.210 17 107.030 107.000 107.000 107.030 -0.030 107.030 s G33AA 2521000 2629698.040 54 104.400 104.210 104.210 104.270 0.060 104.310 l AX24A 16000 16641.600 4 104.010 104.010 104.010 104.010 0.000 104.010 l BV19A 4000 4230.400 1 105.760 105.760 105.760 105.760 0.000 105.760 s BV20A 5000 5153.000 1 103.060 103.060 103.060 103.060 0.040 103.060 l GF21A 5000 5080.500 1 101.610 101.610 101.610 101.610 0.000 101.610 t IG24A 5000 5301.000 1 106.020 106.020 106.020 106.020 -0.030 106.020 t MB15A 5000 5049.500 2 100.990 100.990 100.990 100.990 -0.010 100.990 l MF24A 39100 40102.090 5 102.600 102.510 102.590 102.600 0.000 102.560 t MI21A 800 816.000 1 102.000 102.000 102.000 102.000 -1.000 102.000 s MS23A 4100 4305.000 1 105.000 105.000 105.000 105.000 0.500 105.000 l PG22A 55000 57195.000 6 104.000 103.950 104.000 104.000 0.000 103.990 t TI20A 3000 3165.300 1 105.510 105.510 105.510 105.510 -0.300 105.510 ECB decisions On Thursday, July 17, the European Central Bank (ECB) published an indicative calendar for the meetings of the governing council and for reserve maintenance periods in 2015. The governing council decided this month that meetings dedicated to monetary policy will be held every six weeks instead of once a month, starting in January 2015. Thus, the maintenance periods will be extended to about six weeks as well. The new calendar aligns the start of maintenance periods with possible implementation of monetary policy decisions. Moreover, taking this schedule into account, the 12th reserve maintenance period of 2014 will be extended by 14 days to end on January 27, 2015. ECB Monetary Operations On Monday, July 14, the ECB announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, July 15, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €99.91 billion, €5.76 billion higher than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 0.15%, in accordance with current ECB policy. On Wednesday, July 16, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted one bid of $0.08 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.59%. Domestic Treasury Bill Market In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on October 17, 2014. Bids of €28.00 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €12.00 million. Since €17.60 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €5.60 million, to stand at €416.57 million. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.296%, i.e. 0.70 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on July 11, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9252 per 100 nominal. During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange. On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills and 182-day bills maturing on October 24, 2014, and January 23, 2015, respectively. Market Commentary: Peripheral bond markets recover slightly as investors remain on the alert Throughout most of last week, fixed income markets saw a marked increase in risk aversion as core government bonds rallied on the back of an escalation of geopolitical events in Ukraine and the Middle East. Peripheral European bond markets also recovered some of the lost ground in relation to core European government bonds as Portuguese concerns abated. Macro economic data surprised to the upside in the US and UK. Federal Reserve's Yellen's Senate Banking Committee testimony was broadly neutral as she recognised the recent improvement in the labour market. This week, the key data to focus on include key PMIs in Europe, Japan and the US, June CPI inflation in the US and Japan, Durable Goods Orders in the US and June ECB money supply data. In the UK, on Wednesday, the Minutes of the July Bank of England policy meeting will be released. Meanwhile, the prospect for negative surprises in the eurozone is probably increasing, but investors need not be particularly concerned, for the time being that is. The Asset Quality Review (AQR) is likely to uncover a few small banks in need of some patching up and is expected to put some pressure on the front end of the curve, at least until banks access cheap funding via LTRO. Recent events in Portugal's banking system may be just a teaser for what's to come, or maybe just a minor blip, but it clearly emphasises the lack of systemic risk compared historically and governments are in a better position now to raise money at cheaper levels, as the recent weakness in Portugal may be touted as a buying opportunity. In the long term, however, uncertainty remains and it implies that short dated peripherals are preferred to longer dated ones. The full impact of the TLTRO announced last month may not be felt till Q115. Till then, there are a number of weak economic numbers which the markets might wish to scrutinise such as a slowdown in a handful of key European core economies. This, coupled with geo-political volatility could result in an increased rise in risk aversion and keep longer dated Eurozone yields anchored. This low yield environment could compel investors to extend their bond portfolios in terms of maturities and/or down the credit ladder in the continuous search for yield. Across the Atlantic, although the decent US economic backdrop has not generated much volatility or gains in longer term US yields, shorter term yields have been grinding higher, with 2-year USD swap rates edging towards the 0.70% level, up from near 0.50% in late-May. This means that the gradual rise in shorter term yields is consistent with the better trend in the US economy as well as the progression of expectations on Fed policy. Markets now not only expect another USD10bn taper in monthly asset purchases to be announced at next week's FOMC meeting, but the anticipated end of QE this October could also result in a culmination of the end of the Fed's tightening cycle, expected by many by Q215. Elsewhere, data released towards the end of last week indicated that the Chinese economy expanded 7.5% y-o-y and 2% q-o-q in Q214, well ahead of market expectations, as activity data suggest that most of the improvement came in June. Policy support from the current administration was instrumental in bringing about an earlier and stronger recovery. Bank lending picked up strongly in June whilst fiscal spending accelerated in May and June. This resulted in acceleration in infrastructure investment and related manufacturing investment. This article was issued by Calamatta Cuschieri, visit www.cc.com.mt for more information. The information, view and opinions provided in this article is being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri & Co. Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.