NEW YORK, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Monday awarded $80.17 billion of one-day fixed-rate reverse repurchase agreements to 40 bidders at an interest rate of 0.25 percent, the New York Fed said on its website.

The reverse repurchase agreement program is seen as a critical policy tool for the U.S. central bank to drain money from the financial system in an effort to achieve its interest rate objectives.

On Friday, the Fed allotted $60.32 billion in three-day reverse repos to 34 bidders, including Wall Street dealers, money market mutual funds and mortgage finance agencies, also at an interest rate of 0.25 percent.

Friday’s amount was the lowest the Fed had allotted since the $45.67 billion awarded to 33 bidders at an interest rate of 0.05 percent on Sept. 24. (Reporting by Richard Leong, editing by G Crosse)