Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/366326
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 20 AUGUST 2014 11 Business Today Money Market Report for the week ending August 15, 2014 Exchange Rates Issue Date: 19-Aug-14 Set: 2 Issue Time: 14:39:54 Value Date: 21/08/2014 Currency Cash Cash Non-Cash Non-Cash Revaluation Buying Selling Selling Buying British Pound (GBP) 0.8365 0.7774 0.7814 0.8214 0.8014 United States Dollar (USD) 1.3907 1.2924 1.2991 1.3657 1.3324 Swiss Franc (CHF) 1.2633 1.1740 1.1800 1.2406 1.2103 Australian Dollar (AUD) 1.4902 1.3849 1.3920 1.4634 1.4277 Canadian Dollar (CAD) 1.5180 1.4108 1.4180 1.4908 1.4544 Japanese Yen (JPY) 142.9100 132.8124 133.4970 140.3430 136.9200 Danish Krone (DKK) 7.7900 7.2400 7.2700 7.6500 7.4600 Swedish Kronor (SEK) 9.5500 8.8800 8.9200 9.3800 9.1500 Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) 10.7802 10.0185 10.0701 10.5865 10.3283 Norwegian Krone (NOK) 8.5500 7.9400 7.9900 8.3900 8.1900 New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 1.6460 1.5297 1.5376 1.6164 1.5770 Singapore Dollar (SGD) 1.7316 1.6092 1.6175 1.7005 1.6590 South African Rand (ZAR) 14.7829 13.7384 13.8092 14.5174 14.1633 Czech Koruna (CZK) 29.2000 27.1400 27.2795 28.6785 27.9790 Polish Zloty (PLN) 4.3700 4.0600 4.0821 4.2915 4.1868 Hungarian Forint (HUF) 344.8752 294.7157 305.6889 321.3677 313.5288 Moroccan Dirham (MAD) 12.3090 10.5186 ********* ********* 11.1900 Tunisian Dinar (TND) 2.4000 2.2300 2.2445 2.3596 2.3020 United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) 5.3832 4.6002 4.7715 5.0161 4.8938 Bahraini Dinar (BHD) 0.5526 0.4723 ********* ********* 0.5024 Gibraltar Pound (GIP) 0.8814 0.7532 ********* ********* 0.8013 Israeli New Sheqel (ILS) 5.1666 4.4151 ********* ********* 4.6969 Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) 0.4159 0.3554 ********* ********* 0.3781 Saudi Riyal (SAR) 5.4965 4.6970 ********* ********* 4.9968 Turkish New Lira (TRY) ********* ********* 2.8157 2.9601 2.8879 Thailand BAHT (THB) ********* ********* 41.3745 43.4962 42.4355 Chinese Renminbi (CNY Onshore) ********* ********* 7.9778 8.3870 8.1824 Chinese Renminbi (CNH Offshore) ********* ********* 7.9805 8.3897 8.1851 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. 19.64 19.68 1298.54 1298.96 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 US Dollars per TROY ounce Value Date Currency Same Day EUR/GBP/USD/CAD PUBLIC Regular market closed – 19/08/2014 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change Twap t BOV 24000 50840.240 13 2.126 2.110 2.126 2.110 -0.011 2.118 s GO 19605 46752.900 10 2.400 2.380 2.380 2.400 0.020 2.385 t HSB 13331 26079.300 8 1.960 1.940 1.960 1.940 -0.020 1.956 t IHI 1000 699.000 1 0.699 0.699 0.699 0.699 -0.001 0.699 l MDS 17500 22312.500 1 1.275 1.275 1.275 1.275 0.000 1.275 s MLT 128000 69270.000 6 0.550 0.540 0.550 0.545 0.004 0.541 s MSI 7529 6866.620 8 0.950 0.900 0.900 0.950 0.050 0.912 t SFC 1000 2860.000 1 2.860 2.860 2.860 2.860 -0.001 2.860 t G14B 116469 118216.040 1 101.500 101.500 101.500 101.500 -0.150 101.500 s G15B 2330 2473.530 1 106.160 106.160 106.160 106.160 0.010 106.160 t G16B 11647 12762.780 1 109.580 109.580 109.580 109.580 -0.060 109.580 t G19C 55000 59724.500 1 108.590 108.590 108.590 108.590 -0.010 108.590 s G23A 2330 2933.000 1 125.880 125.880 125.880 125.880 0.760 125.880 t G28B 25000 28572.500 1 114.290 114.290 114.290 114.290 -0.220 114.290 s G29A 25000 30195.000 1 120.780 120.780 120.780 120.780 0.520 120.780 s G30A 250000 304625.000 1 121.850 121.850 121.850 121.850 0.290 121.850 s G32A 3000 3344.700 1 111.490 111.490 111.490 111.490 0.140 111.490 t G32BA 220000 239030.000 3 108.650 108.650 108.650 108.650 -0.180 108.650 s GF21A 1000 1020.000 1 102.000 102.000 102.000 102.000 0.250 102.000 s MD18A 3000 3098.100 1 103.270 103.270 103.270 103.270 0.010 103.270 t MF24A 10000 10400.000 1 104.000 104.000 104.000 104.000 -0.500 104.000 l MS23A 1000 1050.000 1 105.000 105.000 105.000 105.000 0.000 105.000 l PG20A 30000 31080.000 1 103.600 103.600 103.600 103.600 0.000 103.600 l PG22A 25000 26500.000 2 106.000 106.000 106.000 106.000 0.000 106.000 ECB Monetary Operations On Monday, August 11, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, August 12, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €108.20 billion, €0.28 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, August 13, 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 92-day bills maturing on November 14, 2014. Bids of €65.00 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €20.00 million. Since €33.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €13.50 million, to stand at €358.07 million. The yield from the 92-day bill auction was 0.257%, i.e. 2.3 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on August 1, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9344 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 and 182-day bills maturing on November 21, 2014 and February 20, 2015, respectively. Geopolitical escalation increases market volatility In what was a roller coaster week last week in global markets, par- ticularly bond markets, spreads compressed ending the week tight- er. Geopolitical escalation and de- escalation has resulted in increased market volatility, however, over the last few days, bonds rallied as there was no apparent news of escalation in the last few trading sessions. Economic data releases in the eurozone continued to fall short of expectations throughout most of last week, and there seem to be no signs of abating, as the region's economic recovery came to a complete halt in the second quarter. There could be timid signs suggesting that growth could resume in the third quarter, but this is expected to be extremely modest, at best, as downside risks related to the effects of the Ukraine crisis as well as the forthcoming bank stress tests continue to be at the fore. Spare capacity seems to be eroding slowly as eurozone inflation looks set to remain far below the ECB's target of 2.0%. This coupled with weak growth and low inflation could result in possibly additional austerity measures from this point forth, evidencing the fact that additional monetary policy support is desperately needed. This week sees the release of some of the first euro-zone survey data for August. Falls in EC consumer confidence and in the PMI business surveys are likely to add to the recent run of bad news. Elsewhere, US Federal Reserve officials will be eagerly looking forward to their annual policy rendezvous at Jackson Hole later this week. Not much is expected in terms of monetary policy outlook as the focus on labour market dynamics could well indicate some possible implications for monetary policy if it appears that the FOMC members are deviating from their previous stance that labour capacity is still in abundance. In what is expected to be quiet week, CPI inflation and data on the housing market will be closely monitored. The decline in the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index to an eight-month low of 79.2 in August, from 81.8, primarily reflects the recent equity market decline. FOMC minutes to be released on Wednesday could reflect a more hawkish tone as the Fed acknowledges that unemployment is no longer on the upside and that the risk of low inflation has somewhat diminished. Meanwhile, the trend in oil price has reverted downwards, despite temporary spikes, as there has recently been a marked decline in the geopolitical risk premium, against a backdrop of ample global supply, rather than a sudden slump in demand. In essence, the recent weakness in crude oil prices, despite the apparent escalation in political risks threatening key producers in the Middle East and Russia, has caught most analysts by surprise. Geopolitical risk and the euro- zone recovery and/or deflationary scenario are expected to continue to set the tone for the remainder of the month, as people return from holidays in September. Nevertheless, fighting is ongoing in Eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian parliament is planning a law on restricting Russian supplies to Europe flowing through Ukraine. Consequently, a geopolitical trigger for further widening could not be ruled out if we add the Iraq and Gaza conflict to the equation. On a positive note, US HY funds saw positive inflows throughout last week, helped in part by the easing of tensions in geopolitical risks. This saw 'bottom fishers' finding their way pumping money back into the market at cheaper levels. US HY Funds and ETFs have in fact seen the first positive weekly inflow in over a month. 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. YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt