After the ECB injected 489 billion euros in its first installment of 3-year loans in December, economists polled by Reuters are expecting Wednesday's second tranche to gush another half a trillion euros into the banking system. Three-month Euribor rates, traditionally the main gauge of unsecured interbank euro lending and a mix of interest rate expectations and banks' appetite for lending, fell to 0.983 percent from 0.991 percent, hitting the lowest level since October 2010. Rates in other maturities also dropped. Six-month rates fell to 1.279 percent from 1.285 percent, while 1onger-term 12-month rates dropped to 1.614 percent from 1.620 percent. Short-term rates, the most heavily influenced by excess liquidity which currently stands at a massive 472 billion euros according to Reuters calculations, also fell. One week rates ticked down to 0.357 percent from 0.360 percent, while overnight rates remained at 0.360 percent. Although the 3-month lending rates remain well above the low of 0.634 percent they hit in early 2010, they have dropped by roughly a third since the ECB announced plans to lend banks three-year money back in December. The market does not believe rates will drop as far as in 2010. Euribor futures showed markets were anticipating rates to fall to 0.87 percent by next month, with an additional drop to 0.74 percent by the end of the year. In anticipation of this week's tender of 3-year cash, banks took on Tuesday the lowest amount in more than four years in weekly ECB funds, choosing instead to take 134 billion in an overnight operation. Thanks to the first 489 billion euro cash-injection in December, the euro zone managed to avoid a credit crunch as bank lending to companies stabilised in January, ECB data showed on Monday. The cash is also having a positive impact on both the money market and euro zone bond markets, such as Spain and Italy. Money market experts also report that some banks are now prepared to lend to some of their peers for as long as three months, a marked improvement on last month when even month-long loans were hard to come by in the open market. Despite the apparent success of the measure, the ECB wants its second 3-year tender to be the last as central bank sources say they are worried banks will become too reliant on the funds. Unlike in normal times, the enormous amounts of excess cash in the money market is keeping short-term market rates well below the ECB's main 1 percent policy rate. The bank's 0.25 percent overnight deposit rate is acting as a floor for market rates. Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of the European Union (FBE) shortly after 1000 GMT.