Fed awards fewest reverse repos since early January

NEW YORK: The Federal Reserve on Thursday awarded $73.92 billion of overnight fixed-rate reverse repurchase agreements to 38 bidders at an interest rate of 0.05 percent, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on its website.

Thursday's award amount was the smallest since $42.19 billion on Jan. 2.

On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank allotted $95.10 billion in overnight reverse repos to 39 bidders including Wall Street dealers, money market mutual funds and mortgage finance agencies, also at an interest rate of 0.05 percent.

Demand for the Fed's RRPs tends to rise when the interest rate on repurchase agreements falls. The repo rate was last quoted at 0.10 percent to 0.16 percent, compared with 0.22 percent late on Wednesday, according to ICAP.

Earlier Thursday, the Fed awarded $50 billion in seven-day RRPs to 35 bidders at an interest rate of 0.06 percent.