Three-month euro-priced bank-to-bank lending rates fell further away from two-year highs on Friday due to euro zone debt worries and higher excess liquidity on the market. The three-month Euribor rate - traditionally the main gauge of unsecured interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks' appetite for lending - fell to 1.430 percent from 1.433 percent.
Other key rates also eased. Six-month rates dipped to 1.708 percent from 1.712 percent, 12-month rates inched down to 2.135 percent from 2.142 percent while shorter-term one-week rates fell to 1.122 percent from 1.164 percent. EONIA overnight interest rates fixed lower on Thursday at 1.075 percent, down from 1.125 percent the previous day.
Excess liquidity currently stands at just over 27 billion euros according to Reuters calculations having hit 60 billion at the end of the last reserves period, the highest since early February. The ECB handed out 48 billion euros in its latest injection of limit-free, three-month loans on Wednesday to replace 40 billion euros of expiring loans taken by banks back in February.