Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/442526
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 JANUARY 2015 12 Business Today Money Market Report for the week ending January 2, 2015 ECB Monetary Operations On Monday, December 29, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, December 30, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €156.13 billion, €36.97 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. Domestic Treasury Bill Market In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day and 182-day bills maturing on April 2, and July 3, 2015, respectively. Bids of €61 million were submitted for the 90-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20 million, while bids of €66 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €13 million. Since €24 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €9 million, to stand at €149.44 million. The yield from the 90-day bill auction was 0.032%, i.e. 4.8 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on December 12, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9920 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 0.052%, i.e. 6.3 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on December 5, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9737 per 100 nominal. During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange. On Tuesday, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on February 6, and April 10, 2015, respectively. Market commentary: Oil continues to set the scene for markets worldwide Oil continues to set the scene for mar- kets world wide. As crude oil contin- ued to free fall on Monday, equities took a beating and continue to extend losses. Perhaps, the most important figures for the week are the non-farm payrolls. These are due next Friday, but till then oil and Greece continue to take centre stage. Upbeat sales figures by General motors were not enough to stall the downtrend. The automaker posted great domestic demand sales but this was not enough for the share to edge higher. The S&P 500 closed at the 2020 level on Monday, which means 1.83 percentage points lower from previous close. At the time of going to print European futures indicate a mixed open, following a weak session yesterday which saw all major markets close in the red. Markets will continue to follow the Greece saga, as the nation will go to the polls at the end of this month. This political uncertainty is expected to continue to weigh on market sentiment as a vote in favour of Syriza may mean that the country's economic progress is destabilized and negotiations with international bailout partners negatively affected. After Samaras was forced to call an early election, there continues to be mention of the exit of Greece from the Eurozone. This is dubbed by the market as Grexit, Germany's vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel was quoted in saying that there are no plans for Greece to leave the Eurozone and Germany and the EU should work to keep Greece in the Eurozone. On the other hand Chancellor Angela Merkel insists that a Greek exit will not be catastrophic to Europe. Merkel and the finance minister Schaeuble voiced their opinion to the Der Spiegel over the weekend. The Eurozone is now in a better position than it was in 2011 as countries like Ireland and Portugal have now been rehabilitated and therefore the danger of contagion should be somewhat limited. This saga will continue to create noise in the market, which could prove to be an opportunity as investors wait for the ECB to act in the form of a QE. On the point of QE, president Draghi mentioned recently that the 'ECB's governing council has instructed the staff to prepare concrete measures'. In his typical style Draghi stopped short of providing further details. Before we preview the day ahead, we have a look at Asia where the three main indices are trading in the red. China is accelerating infrastructure projects as policy makers continue to bolster investments in order to promote growth. This should have an effect on the market and we will continue to follow on how this news is digested by the market. On today's data front we have the Eurozone PMI which is due this morning. On the corporate front there are no major earnings that are to be released. This article was issued by Mr. Darin Pace, Treasury 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 on this website. Regular market closed –06/01/2014 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change Twap l BOV 75165 172246.960 17 2.300 2.285 2.290 2.290 0.000 2.292 l CW 39812 34238.320 5 0.860 0.860 0.860 0.860 0.000 0.860 l FIM 12300 7380.000 2 0.600 0.600 0.600 0.600 0.000 0.600 t GHM 7300 13398.500 3 1.865 1.820 1.865 1.820 -0.045 1.835 s GO 1820 4683.800 2 2.590 2.560 2.560 2.590 0.010 2.574 s HSB 48677 97843.710 5 2.030 2.000 2.010 2.030 0.010 2.010 t IHI 8000 4624.000 2 0.578 0.578 0.578 0.578 -0.001 0.578 t MIA 15731 37655.510 7 2.400 2.355 2.400 2.355 -0.045 2.394 s MLT 64000 41055.000 3 0.642 0.641 0.641 0.642 0.002 0.641 s MSI 7782 7716.120 4 1.000 0.985 0.985 1.000 0.006 0.992 l MTP 53050 63750.750 5 1.211 1.200 1.211 1.200 0.000 1.202 l TML 48000 28800.000 2 0.600 0.600 0.600 0.600 0.000 0.600 t G15A 5823 5968.580 1 102.500 102.500 102.500 102.500 -0.090 102.500 t G15B 38610 40250.930 1 104.250 104.250 104.250 104.250 -0.090 104.250 s G16B 9318 10082.080 1 108.200 108.200 108.200 108.200 0.010 108.200 s G17C 19200 21201.360 3 110.430 110.420 110.420 110.430 0.020 110.420 t G19A 6523 8237.900 2 126.290 126.290 126.290 126.290 -0.020 126.290 t G19C 79300 87214.140 3 109.980 109.980 109.980 109.980 -0.010 109.980 t G21A 161166 199040.020 4 123.500 123.500 123.500 123.500 -0.010 123.500 s G22A 2097 2645.160 1 126.140 126.140 126.140 126.140 0.340 126.140 s G22B 121500 145800.000 6 120.000 120.000 120.000 120.000 0.020 120.000 s G23A 7455 9757.850 2 130.890 130.890 130.890 130.890 0.430 130.890 s G28A 19600 25046.840 4 127.790 127.790 127.790 127.790 0.150 127.790 s G28B 116000 144056.100 7 124.250 124.140 124.140 124.210 0.110 124.190 s G29A 42000 54999.000 4 130.950 130.950 130.950 130.950 0.110 130.950 s G30A 224600 296838.560 10 132.170 132.100 132.100 132.170 0.170 132.160 s G31A 92500 120401.500 3 130.180 130.140 130.160 130.140 0.070 130.160 s G32A 110000 133672.000 5 121.520 121.520 121.520 121.520 0.050 121.520 s G32B 535200 634921.280 9 118.640 118.630 118.630 118.640 0.540 118.630 s G33A 191500 221603.800 6 115.720 115.720 115.720 115.720 0.100 115.720 s G34A 344900 389288.920 11 112.880 112.790 112.790 112.860 0.260 112.870 l BV18A 25000 26380.000 1 105.520 105.520 105.520 105.520 0.000 105.520 s BV19A 12000 12840.000 1 107.000 107.000 107.000 107.000 0.230 107.000 s BV19B 26800 28006.000 2 104.500 104.500 104.500 104.500 0.070 104.500 s BV20A 18000 19134.000 2 106.300 106.300 106.300 106.300 0.300 106.300 t HM24A 16700 17338.940 3 103.840 103.750 103.750 103.840 -0.010 103.830 l IH19A 30000 30153.000 1 100.510 100.510 100.510 100.510 0.000 100.510 t IH21A 26300 26828.630 2 102.010 102.010 102.010 102.010 -0.990 102.010 s IH23A 14000 14352.600 4 102.520 102.510 102.510 102.520 0.020 102.520 t MB19A 25000 26497.500 1 105.990 105.990 105.990 105.990 -0.010 105.990 t MF24A 5000 5325.500 1 106.510 106.510 106.510 106.510 -0.520 106.510 l PG20A 20000 21300.000 1 106.500 106.500 106.500 106.500 0.000 106.500 t PT24A 150000 157230.000 4 104.820 104.820 104.820 104.820 -0.180 104.820 Exchange Rates Issue Date: 06-Jan-15 Set: 3 Issue Time: 14:52:09 Value Date: 08/01/2015 Currency Cash Cash Non-Cash Non-Cash Revaluation Buying Selling Selling Buying British Pound (GBP) 0.8188 0.7610 0.7649 0.8041 0.7845 United States Dollar (USD) 1.2429 1.1551 1.1610 1.2206 1.1908 Swiss Franc (CHF) 1.2539 1.1653 1.1713 1.2313 1.2013 Australian Dollar (AUD) 1.5284 1.4204 1.4277 1.5009 1.4643 Canadian Dollar (CAD) 1.4628 1.3595 1.3665 1.4365 1.4015 Japanese Yen (JPY) 147.8500 137.4005 138.1088 145.1913 141.6500 Danish Krone (DKK) 7.7700 7.2200 7.2500 7.6300 7.4400 Swedish Kronor (SEK) 9.8300 9.1400 9.1800 9.6600 9.4200 Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) 9.6361 8.9552 9.0014 9.4630 9.2322 Norwegian Krone (NOK) 9.5900 8.9100 8.9600 9.4200 9.1900 New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 1.6033 1.4900 1.4977 1.5745 1.5361 Singapore Dollar (SGD) 1.6597 1.5424 1.5503 1.6299 1.5901 South African Rand (ZAR) 14.5605 13.5317 13.6014 14.2990 13.9502 Czech Koruna (CZK) 28.9100 26.8700 27.0060 28.3910 27.6985 Polish Zloty (PLN) 4.5000 4.1800 4.2010 4.4164 4.3087 Hungarian Forint (HUF) 351.3333 300.2282 311.4101 327.3751 319.3970 Moroccan Dirham (MAD) 12.0450 10.2930 ********* ********* 10.9500 Tunisian Dinar (TND) 2.3400 2.1800 2.1880 2.3002 2.2441