On Monday, September 17, the ECB announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation. The auction was conducted on Tuesday, September 18, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €119.84 billion, €10.50 billion lower 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 18, 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 14. 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 €468.23 billion, with the ECB allotting €209 billion or 44.64 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 19, 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 $3.72 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.64 per cent.
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 92-day and 183-day bills maturing on December 21 and March 22, respectively.
Bids of €10.23 million were submitted for the 92-day bills with the Treasury accepting the full amount, while bids of €10 million were submitted for the 183-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €7.0 million. Since €12.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €4.73 million, to stand at €295.35 million.
The yield from the 92-day bill auction was 1.236 per cent, i.e. 1.3 basis points higher than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on September 14, representing a bid price of 99.6851 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 183-day bill auction was 1.269 per cent, i.e. 1.9 basis points higher than on bills with a similar tenor issued on August 10, representing a bid price of 99.3591 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day, 181-day and 273-day bills maturing on December 28, March 28 and June 28 respectively.