On Monday, August 10, the ECB announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO). This auction which was conducted last Tuesday, attracted bids for €73.60 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, €7.18 billion less than in the previous week, at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of one per cent.

On Monday, August 10, 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 euro. This operation attracted bids for €12.08 billion, which was slightly less than half the intended amount of €25 billion, and all bids were allotted in full at a fixed price of -0.86 swap points.

Last Tuesday, August 11, the ECB conducted a Special Term Refinancing Operation (STRO) with a maturity of 28-days. The ECB received bids for €30.69 billion, at a fixed rate equivalent to the ECB's main refinancing rate of 1.00%.

Also, on the same day, which coincided with the end of the reserve deposit maintenance period, the ECB conducted an overnight Fine Tuning Operation to absorb excess liquidity from the market. This was carried out at a variable rate, with a maximum of one per cent. This operation received bids for €238.85 billion, with the ECB accepting €238.34 billion, or 99.79 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate on the operation was set at 0.80 per cent, while the average weighted rate was 0.70 per cent.

On the same day, the Eurosystem, in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve, conducted an 84-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending. This attracted bids for $0.51 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.21 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 $45.25 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.17 per cent.

On the same day, the ECB conducted two supplementary Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (LTROs), one with a maturity of 91 days and the other with a maturity of 182 days. These operations received bids for €13.02 billion and €11.87 billion, respectively, at a fixed rate equivalent to the ECB's main refinancing rate of one per cent.

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

In the domestic primary market for Treasury Bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on November 13, 2009. Bids for €51.90 million were submitted, with the Treasury allotting €32.45 million. Since €33.03 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €0.58 million to €613.07 million. The yield resulting from the auction was 1.501 per cent, i.e. 7.4 basis points lower than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on July 31, 2009. The latest yield represented a bid price of 99.6220 per 100 nominal.

Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on November 20, 2009.

Treasury Bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €5.03 million during the week, with all trades being conducted by the Central Bank of Malta in its role as market maker.

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