On Monday, September 10, the ECB announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation. The auction was conducted on Tuesday, September 11, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €130.34 billion, €4.01 billion higher than the bid amount in the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 0.75 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Tuesday, September 11, the ECB conducted a Special-Term Refinancing Operation with a maturity of 28 days. This attracted bids of €13.84 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 0.75 per cent, also in accordance with the current ECB policy.
Also on Tuesday, September 11, the ECB conducted an auction for a seven-day fixed-term deposit intended to absorb €209 billion. This operation was designed to sterilise the effect of purchases made under the Securities Markets Programme that were settled but had not yet matured by the previous Friday, September 7. The auction was carried out at a variable rate, with euro area eligible counterparties allowed to place up to four bids at a maximum rate of 0.75 per cent. It attracted bids amounting to €433.18 billion, with the ECB allotting €209.0 billion or 48.25 per cent of the total bid amount. The marginal rate on the auction was set at 0.01 per cent, with the weighted average rate at 0.01 per cent.
On Wednesday, September 12, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $3.77 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.63 per cent.
On the same day, the ECB, in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve, conducted an 84-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending. This attracted bids of $3.68 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.63 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on October 12 and December 14 respectively. Bids of €2 million were submitted for the 28-day bills while bids of €12.61 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting the full amount in both tenors. Since €9.03 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €5.59 million, to stand at €290.62 million.
The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 1.159 per cent, i.e. 5.7 basis points higher than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on September 7, representing a bid price of 99.9099 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 1.223 per cent, i.e. one basis point higher than on bills with a similar tenor issued on September 7, representing a bid price of 99.6918 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 92-day bills and 183-day bills maturing on December 21 and March 22 respectively.