Slight increase in domestic Treasury bill rate

On Monday, July 21, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO). This attracted bids for €268.2 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, with the ECB allotting €175.5 billion, or 65.4 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate on the operation, that is the minimum rate at which the tender allotment was exhausted, was set at 4.35 per cent, one basis point higher than the marginal rate resulting from the MRO of the previous week.

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on October 24. Bids for €80.16 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €21.74 million. Since €19.77 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €1.98 million to €436.42 million.

The yield resulting from the auction was 4.916 per cent, 1.5 basis points higher than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on July 18. The latest yield represented a bid price of 98.7726 per 100 nominal.

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on October 31. The following week the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on November 7.

Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €2.5 million, while there were no off-Exchange transactions. Most of the trades were conducted by the Central Bank of Malta in its role as market maker.