MAS mopping up excess liquidity amid decline in interest rates

Singapore

THE plunge in short-term local interest rates has prompted the regulator to mop up excess liquidity by increasing the size of its bill auctions.

The weekly Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) bill auction sizes have responded to ample liquidity conditions domestically, with one-month bills starting the year at S$1.4 billion and increasing to S$1.6 billion on Jan 30, noted Heng Koon How, United Overseas Bank's head of markets strategy.

Similarly, three-month bills have gone up from S$5.1 billion at the beginning of the year to S$5.8 billion on Jan 30; six-month bills rose fro…