On Monday, February 22, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). This auction, which was conducted on Tuesday, February 23, attracted bids for €81.42 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of one per cent in accordance with the current ECB policy.

On Tuesday, the ECB announced a standard longer-term refinancing operation (LTRO) with a maturity of 91 days. In this LTRO, the ECB received bids for €10.21 billion, which amount was also allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 1.00 per cent.

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 273-day bills maturing on November 26. Bids for €106.1 million were submitted, with the Treasury allotting €5 million. Since €22.07 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €17.07 million to €488.69 million.

The yield resulting from the auction was 1.1 per cent, i.e. 50 basis points less than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on September 25, 2009. The latest yield represented a bid price of 99.1727 per 100 nominal.

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on June 4.

Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €3.09 million during the week. Concurrently off-exchange transactions amounted to just €0.1 million, with all trades being transacted by the Central Bank of Malta.