Key Euribor rates inch up as markets remain nervy

 

Key euro-priced bank-to-bank lending rates inched up on Monday, after the European Central Bank put its exit strategy on ice last week and said it would continue to offer markets unlimited liquidity until at leastmid-April.

The three-month Euribor rate, traditionally the main gauge of unsecured interbank euro lending and a mix ofinterest rate expectations and banks' appetite for lending --edged up to 1.028 percent from 1.027 percent.

Six-month rates remained at 1.256 percent,shorter-term one-week rates jumped to 0.692 percent from 0.675 percent, while longer-term 12-month rates bucked the trend, dipping to 1.524 percent from1.526 percent.

Overnight rates fell to 0.414 percent on Friday.

Bank-to-bank 3-month lending rates traditionally sit just above the ECB's headline rate, but the ECB's tactic of lending out unlimited cash during the financial crisis had long kept them well below the benchmark rate.

The 3-month Euribor rate broke above the European CentralBank's 1.0 percent benchmark rate for the first time in wellover a year in October, marking a milestone for money marketsand interbank rates are around 20 percent higher than in September.

The ECB said last week it would continue to provide unrestricted funding to money markets in the early part of next year.

It also kept interest rates on hold at a record low of 1 percent as expected. Economists currently expect the bank to keep them there until the start of the fourth quarter next year.

Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 1000 GMT.