On Monday, June 23, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO). This attracted bids for €243.3 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, with the ECB allotting €208 billion, or 85.49 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate on the operation, that is the rate at which the total tender allotment was exhausted, was 4.07 per cent, up four basis points from the marginal rate resulting from the previous week's MRO.

The following day, the ECB launched a standard Longer-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) with a maturity of three months. This operation attracted bids for €89.84 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, with the ECB allotting €50 billion, or 55.7 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate on this operation was set by the ECB at 4.50 per cent, 10 basis points lower than the marginal rate resulting from the LTRO of June 12. In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on September 26. Bids for €52.15 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €18.06 million. Since €8.5 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €9.6 million to €419.7 million.

The yield resulting from the auction was 4.942 per cent, 5.4 basis points higher than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on June 13. The latest yield represented a bid price of 98.7662 per 100 nominal.

Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on October 3.

The following week the Treasury will invite tenders for 182-day bills maturing on January 9, 2009. Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €3.15 million, with the bulk of trades being conducted by the Central Bank of Malta in its role as market maker. Off-Exchange transactions amounted to € 392,000.

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