Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/434696
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2014 11 Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Exchange Rates Issue Date: 16-Dec-14 Set: 3 Issue Time: 14:33:58 Value Date: 18/12/2014 Currency Cash Cash Non-Cash Non-Cash Revaluation Buying Selling Selling Buying British Pound (GBP) 0.8308 0.7721 0.7761 0.8159 0.7960 United States Dollar (USD) 1.3075 1.2151 1.2214 1.2840 1.2527 Swiss Franc (CHF) 1.2534 1.1649 1.1709 1.2309 1.2009 Australian Dollar (AUD) 1.5865 1.4744 1.4820 1.5580 1.5200 Canadian Dollar (CAD) 1.5225 1.4149 1.4222 1.4952 1.4587 Japanese Yen (JPY) 152.1500 141.3969 142.1258 149.4143 145.7700 Danish Krone (DKK) 7.7700 7.2200 7.2500 7.6300 7.4400 Swedish Kronor (SEK) 9.9600 9.2500 9.3000 9.7800 9.5400 Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) 10.1388 9.4224 9.4710 9.9566 9.7138 Norwegian Krone (NOK) 9.8900 9.2000 9.2400 9.7200 9.4800 New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 1.6752 1.5569 1.5649 1.6451 1.6050 Singapore Dollar (SGD) 1.7017 1.5815 1.5896 1.6712 1.6304 South African Rand (ZAR) 15.2526 14.1749 14.2480 14.9786 14.6133 Czech Koruna (CZK) 28.8000 26.7700 26.9071 28.2869 27.5970 Polish Zloty (PLN) 4.3900 4.0800 4.1009 4.3112 4.2060 Hungarian Forint (HUF) 343.8198 293.8152 304.7480 320.3793 312.5684 Moroccan Dirham (MAD) 12.1550 10.3870 ********* ********* 11.0500 Tunisian Dinar (TND) 2.4100 2.2400 2.2491 2.3645 2.3068 United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) 5.0612 4.3250 4.4861 4.7161 4.6011 Bahraini Dinar (BHD) 0.5195 0.4440 ********* ********* 0.4723 Gibraltar Pound (GIP) 0.8755 0.7481 ********* ********* 0.7959 Israeli New Sheqel (ILS) 5.3845 4.6013 ********* ********* 4.8950 Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) 0.4021 0.3436 ********* ********* 0.3655 Saudi Riyal (SAR) 5.1722 4.4199 ********* ********* 4.7020 Turkish New Lira (TRY) ********* ********* 2.8958 3.0443 2.9700 Thailand BAHT (THB) ********* ********* 40.2308 42.2938 41.2623 Chinese Renminbi (CNY Onshore) ********* ********* 7.5595 7.9471 7.7533 Chinese Renminbi (CNH Offshore) ********* ********* 7.5617 7.9495 7.7556 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. 16.36 16.41 1209.80 1209.90 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 SILVER GOLD PUBLIC Regular market closed –16/12/2014 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change Twap ▲ BOV 31775 69336.500 10 2.190 2.180 2.180 2.190 0.010 2.182 ▼ GO 198469 486274.690 4 2.470 2.450 2.470 2.450 -0.020 2.450 ▼ HSB 8034 14949.930 5 1.875 1.850 1.869 1.850 -0.030 1.861 ▲ LOM 11000 19335.000 2 1.760 1.755 1.755 1.760 0.005 1.758 ▼ G15B 12346 12907.740 1 104.550 104.550 104.550 104.550 -0.040 104.550 ▼ G15F 20000 20664.000 1 103.320 103.320 103.320 103.320 -0.110 103.320 ▼ G16A 10483 11325.830 1 108.040 108.040 108.040 108.040 -0.010 108.040 ▼ G16B 1009318 1093498.840 3 108.360 108.340 108.360 108.340 -0.070 108.340 ● G17C 20000 22102.000 3 110.510 110.510 110.510 110.510 0.000 110.510 ▼ G17D 5000 5424.500 1 108.490 108.490 108.490 108.490 -0.090 108.490 ● G19A 17471 22081.600 1 126.390 126.390 126.390 126.390 0.000 126.390 ▲ G21A 36647 45156.430 2 123.220 123.220 123.220 123.220 0.070 123.220 ▲ G22B 164000 196111.200 3 119.580 119.580 119.580 119.580 0.080 119.580 ▲ G24A 10000 11247.000 1 112.470 112.470 112.470 112.470 0.480 112.470 ▲ G28A 280000 354618.000 4 126.660 126.560 126.560 126.660 0.350 126.650 ▲ G28B 320000 393964.000 2 123.120 123.020 123.120 123.020 0.120 123.110 ▲ G29A 156000 202356.600 2 129.720 129.610 129.610 129.720 0.250 129.720 ▲ G30A 481500 630102.000 5 130.900 130.800 130.800 130.900 0.290 130.860 ▲ G31A 154000 198305.800 4 128.770 128.770 128.770 128.770 0.140 128.770 ▲ G32A 194300 233718.030 6 120.310 120.210 120.210 120.210 0.140 120.290 ▲ G32B 165000 193685.000 4 117.400 117.300 117.300 117.300 0.130 117.380 ▲ G33A 68000 77745.000 3 114.500 114.270 114.270 114.500 0.370 114.330 ▲ G34A 76000 84841.000 5 111.700 111.400 111.400 111.700 0.430 111.630 ● AX24A 9800 10584.000 2 108.000 108.000 108.000 108.000 0.000 108.000 ▲ EF20A 14000 14770.000 3 105.500 105.500 105.500 105.500 0.780 105.500 ● GC16A 30700 30700.000 2 100.000 100.000 100.000 100.000 0.000 100.000 ● HM24A 19500 20250.130 6 103.950 103.750 103.950 103.950 0.000 103.850 ▲ IH21A 30000 30737.500 2 102.500 102.450 102.450 102.500 0.050 102.460 ● MB19B 20000 20500.000 1 102.500 102.500 102.500 102.500 0.000 102.500 ▲ MD18A 20000 21100.000 1 105.500 105.500 105.500 105.500 0.220 105.500 ▼ MI15A 17000 15682.500 1 92.250 92.250 92.250 92.250 -2.750 92.250 ● MI17A 5400 4860.000 1 90.000 90.000 90.000 90.000 0.000 90.000 ● MS23A 1400 1498.000 2 107.000 107.000 107.000 107.000 0.000 107.000 ● PG22A 10000 10600.000 2 106.000 106.000 106.000 106.000 0.000 106.000 Money Market Report for the week ending December 12, 2014 Market commentary: Data laden day as Russia raises rate to 17.0% ECB Monetary Operations On Monday, December 8, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, December 9, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €105.22 billion, €7.18 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 0.05%, in accordance with current ECB policy. On Wednesday, December 10, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation was carried out at a fixed rate of 0.62% and did not attract bids from euro area eligible counterparties. Furthermore, on Thursday, December 11, the ECB conducted the second Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation, as announced in the press release of Thursday, June 5. This operation attracted bids of €129.84 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.15%. Domestic Treasury Bill Market In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on January 9, 2015, and March 13, 2015, respectively. Bids of €39.00 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €6.00 million, while bids of €61.00 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €2.80 million. Since €33.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €24.70 million, to stand at €209.94 million. The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 0.060%, i.e. 0.7 basis point lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on November 28, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9953 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.080%, i.e. unchanged from the bills with a similar tenor issued on December 5, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9798 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 March 20 and June 19, 2015, respectively. Uncharacteristically for this time of year, when markets usually tend to smoothen up and lighten up in terms of activity, volatility is creeping upwards once again, all for the wrong reasons, as, throughout the end of last week, equities lost ground, eurozone spreads widened and the Japanese yen strength- ened further, not to mention to persist- ent plummeting in the price of oil. Recent market action could very well be a reaction to last week's somewhat disappointing ECB press conference, at Draghi strongly hinted to further stimulus, failing however to concretely formalise matters. The ECB's reputation of doing little too late is alive and kicking, and this time round is no exception once again as the ECB continues to delay the announcement of its asset purchase programme. However, the decline in the price of oil (OPEC's recent decision to let markets dictate the price of oil triggered a widespread sell-off) coupled with eurozone peripheral risk, brought about by the upcoming Greek elections, are taking their toll on the markets. This week is all about the 17 December FOMC meeting – no great shakes are expected here, merely a strong but clear message to the markets that the Federal Reserve's plan of rating interest rates in mid-2015 is well on track. Employment numbers continue to surprise to the upside as economic activity and sentiment data continue to indicate a healthy recovering economy, whilst inflationary data, on the other hand, is expected to remain below projections mainly on the back of the recent sharp decline in the price of oil. The FOMC members will be well aware on the implications on the decline in the price of oil and any developments in this front will most likely dictate FOMC policy in Q1 2015. Towards the end of last week, the ECB announced the take-up of the highly talked about TLTRO which came in at ca. €130bn, €20bn short of what the market was expecting. What is more disappointing here is that the taken up amount is even lower than the outstanding LTRO amount (the first round of LTRO) due to mature towards the beginning of 2015, resulting in an overall net reduction in the bank's balance sheet – clearly contrary to what ECB's Draghi and Constancio stated last month (that the ECB intends to increase its balance to €3trn, i.e. to December 2012 levels). This puts further pressure on the ECB to send a strong message to the markets in its January 2015 rate-setting meeting. Meanwhile, members at the Bank of England remain worrisome on the dire situation in neighbouring Europe, as a lack of demand in the eurozone remains the biggest hurdle to the UK's economic recovery, resulting in a large current account deficit which has subsequently resulted in weaker manufacturing production data. Nevertheless, Services and Manufacturing PMIs this week in the UK are expected to indicate that the certain aspects of the UK economy remain robust, whilst the lower oil price should provide support for the retail sales growth data print once again. Markets have quite a handful of economic data and events to contend with this week, with the key focus being FOMC meeting tomorrow. On the data front, we have got the CPI print for the US and Canada, the release of unemployment numbers in the UK, Norway, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, and Brazil. In addition, we await the release of some key PMI data out of the UK, euro zone, France, and Germany, Consumer Confidence for Germany and the UK, as well as Retail Sales for the UK and Canada. Meanwhile, over the weekend, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition registered a huge win in Sunday's elections. This result poises the newly elect administration to continue bolster reflationary economic policies following large month's announcement of an unprecedented asset purchase program. Nevertheless, the electorate turnout was bleak hinting towards the broad dissatisfaction with his performance so far. On a final note, two key events happened overnight and this morning. Firstly, last night, Russia's central bank raised the key interest rate by a staggering 650 basis points, from 10.50% to 17.0% in an attempt to preserve the ruble, which had fallen to 1998 levels against the US dollar. This is expected to have an adverse effect on domestic liquidity, put a strain on the domestic corporate sector and negatively impact the economy. Meanwhile, this morning the Bank of England announced its most recent stress test results. HSBC emerged as the winner of the tests out of the 8 strongest UK banks tested; Barclays, Santander UK and Standard Chartered fell comfortably in line whilst RBS and Lloyds barely scraped through. The only casualty was Co-Op bank. This article was issued by Mark Vella, Investment Manager at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt . 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 in this paper.