Decrease in outstanding amount of Treasury Bills

On Monday, April 27, the ECB announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation. This attracted bids for €233.16 billion from eligible euro area counterparties, at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 1.25 per cent.

On the same day, the Eurosystem and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) conducted a EUR/CHF foreign exchange swap, with a seven-day maturity, to provide Swiss franc liquidity against the euro. This operation attracted bids for €39.27 billion. As this exceeded the intended volume of €25 billion, participating counterparties received 63.66 per cent of the amounts bid for. This operation was conducted at a fixed price of -2.43 swap points.

The following day, the ECB announced a standard Longer-Term Refinancing Operation with a maturity of 91 days. In this LTRO, the ECB received bids for €30.17 billion, at a fixed rate equivalent to the ECB's main refinancing rate of 1.25 per cent. The next day, the ECB, in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve, conducted another US dollar funding operation, this time with a tenor of seven days.

This attracted bids for $67.10 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.18 per cent.

The amounts bid for in the MRO and LTRO euro operations were allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.

In the domestic primary market for Treasury Bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 92-day Bills maturing on July 31, 2009. Bids for €56.56 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €35.52 million. Since €39.03 million worth of Bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €3.52 million to €585.83 million.

The yield resulting from the auction was 1.998 per cent, i.e. 1.7 basis points lower than that on Bills with a similar tenor issued on April 24. The latest yield represented a bid price of 99.4920 per 100 nominal.

Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 182-day Bills maturing on November 6.

Treasury Bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €1.70 million during the week, with €0.48 million trades being conducted by the Central Bank of Malta in its role as market maker and €1.22 million trades being conducted by other brokers. Off-exchange transactions amounted to €0.10 million.