Money Market
Money Market
MONEY MARKET
Meaning of Money Market:
Money market refers to the market where money and
highly liquid marketable securities are bought and sold
having a maturity period of one or less than one year. It
is not a place like the stock market but an activity
conducted by telephone. The highly liquid marketable
securities are also called as ‘ money market instruments’
like treasury bills, government securities, commercial
paper, certificates of deposit, call money, repurchase
agreements etc.
Participants
Commercial banks
Finance, industrial, and service companies
Governments
Money market mutual funds
All other financial institutions (investing)
1. Constituents/Elements of Money Market:
Like other markets, money market also has
three constituents: (a) It has buyers and
sellers in the form of borrowers and lenders,
(b) It has a commodity; it deals with short-
maturity credit instruments, like commercial
bills, treasury bills, etc. (c) It has a price in the
form of rate of interest which is an item of
cost to the borrower and return to the lender.
2. Heterogeneous Market:
The money market is not a single
homogeneous market but consists
of several sub-markets, each market
dealing with a specific short-term
credit instrument.
3. Dealers of Money Market:
The borrowers in the money market are
traders, manufactures, speculators, and even
government institutions. The lenders in the
money market are commercial banks, central
banks, non-bank financial intermediaries, etc.
4. Short-term Loans:
Money market deals with short-term loans. In
a money market, the borrowers can obtain
funds for periods varying from a day, a week,
a month, or three to six months.
5. near-Money Assets:
Money market does not deal in money, but in
short-term financial instruments or near-
money assets. These assets are relatively
liquid and readily marketable. The assets
against which the funds can be borrowed in
the money market include short-term
government securities, bills of exchange,
bankers' acceptances, etc.
6. Physical Contact Not Necessary:
Money market does not refer to a specific
place where borrowers and lenders meet
each other. In fact, it is not necessary that the
borrowers and lenders should have personal
contact with each other at a particular place.
It’s a OTC maket
7. Different from Capital Market:
Money market is different from capital market
on the basis of maturity period. Money
market deals with the short-term lending and
borrowing of funds, while capital market
deals with medium and long-term lending
and borrowing of funds.
8. Change with Place and Time:
Though the functions of money markets in
different countries are broadly the same, the
instruments, institutions and practices of these
markets vary considerably from country to
country. Money markets also change with time.
For example, in London money market, bill of
exchange used to be of great importance. But,
now because of change in business practices and
the growth of public debt, government treasury
bills have become more important.
Types of Investment Risk
Market risk – The risk that the market value of an asset will
decline, resulting in a capital loss when sold. Also called interest
rate risk.
Importer Exporter
5 Shipment of Goods
4 L/C Notification
2 L/C Application
6 Shipping Documents
3 L/C