Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:45am EST
* Implied dollar LIBOR at 0.69% from 0.9% at the start of yr
* China short-term money market rate vaults over 6%
HONG KONG, Jan 20 (Reuters) - December 2011 eurodollar
futures contracts stabilised at one-month highs on Thursday
after weak U.S. housing data prompted some investors to scale
back bets on an interest rate increase this year.
* Eurdollar futures contracts expiring in December 2011
settled at 99.31, implying a dollar LIBOR of 0.69
percent, compared with 0.90 percent at the start of the year.
* U.S. housing starts dropped to an annual rate of 529,000
units in December, the lowest level since late 2009, the
Commerce Department said. .
* Euribor futures expiring in December 2011 paused
after a recent selloff, but remained well within sight of April
2010 lows, after recent hawkish comments from European Central
Bank.
* The ECB kept interest rates on hold at a record low of 1
percent on Thursday, but warned that the euro zone faces
short-term price pressures -- taken by some in financial markets
as a sign it could raise rates earlier than previously thought.
* In China, the benchmark short-term money market rate jumped by 200
basis points (bps) to 6.08 percent
after a 130 bps rise on Wednesday, hit by cash calls for payments to
meet an official increase in bank reserve
requirement ratios and the coming Lunar New Year.
* Elsewhere, three-month dollar funding costs in Singapore rebounded
sharply to 0.30657 percent from 0.30580
percent on Wednesday. (Reporting by Saikat Chatterjee; Editing by Kim
Coghill)
Source: Reuters.Com
