November was a very strong month at Eurex Repo across all markets, writes Frank Gast, managing director and member of the Management Board at Eurex Repo, in a market commentary.
Even though the major central banks paused further rate decisions in November, the month continued to be a very strong at Eurex Repo across all markets in term-adjusted volumes. Overall, an impressive 70% growth to €361 billion ($393.3bn) across all markets was reached compared to the same period last year.
Average traded volumes almost doubled compared to the same period last year (year-to-date) with a strong increase of 230% in GC Pooling volumes and 30% in the GC & Special Repo. The market continued to roll positions in the GC & Special Repo market over year-end.
Outstanding Volumes: Average outstanding volumes continued to be robust with a year-to-date increase of 125% for the GC Pooling market and a 40% increase for the GC & Special markets.
Spreads and Collateral: The average spread between GC Pooling EXT and the ECB Basket stayed stable at around 3bps. Remarkably, both baskets (ECB and ECB EXT) moved slightly closer to the 4% Deposit rate during the month of November. The average spread between ECB EXT basket traded up to €STR plus 8-9bp.
Government Bonds: Trading volumes in the Bund Special repo market saw a decrease in November compared to the same period last year, mainly due to lesser scarcity and expectations of a steady year-end in the market. Nonetheless, looking at the year-to-date figures, there has been an overall increase of 6% in Bund special trading volumes.
EU Bonds/SSAs (sovereign, supranational and agency): EU bonds continued to be traded at a high level and were slightly above the level of November last year (+3%). Overall, the EU bond repo volumes increased year-to-date by 83%. January – November average monthly traded volume in Supranationals & Agencies increased by 31% compared to 2022, due to the strong increase in EU bonds.
Term Repo: The average term-adjusted volumes in GC Pooling reached a strong year-to-date growth of 145%, while GC & Special term business increased by 36%. We see continued business in standard terms in GC Pooling up to 12 months. As a result of these activities, a new record in daily term-adjusted volume of €1.53 trillion was set on 28 November.
Year-end activity commenced in Special Repo with volumes traded in Government Bonds, primarily in Bunds, French and Spanish bonds. The majority of trades will mature in January/February 2024.