U.S. Federal Reserve awards $144.6 billion reverse repos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Monday awarded $144.6 billion of overnight fixed-rate reverse repurchase agreements to 50 bidders at an interest rate of 0.05 percent, the New York Fed said on its website. This was the biggest award since Oct. 30, when the Fed awarded $225.33 billion to 79 bidders at the same rate. On Friday, the Fed had allotted $122.99 billion in three-day reverse repos to 50 bidders, including Wall Street dealers, money market mutual funds and mortgage finance agencies, also at an interest rate of 0.05 percent. The overnight interest rate in the repurchase agreement, or repo, market was last quoted at 0.05 to 0.09 percent, compared with 0.09 percent on Friday , according to ICAP. In the repo market, money funds and other investors make short-term loans to banks and Wall Street dealers, which pledge Treasuries and other securities as collateral. (Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Alan Crosby)