On Monday, March 11, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation. The auction was conducted the following day, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €127.3 billion, €2.5 billion lower than the amount bid for in the previous week. The bid 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, March 12, the ECB conducted a special-term refinancing operation with a maturity of 28 days. This attracted bids of €4.21 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, the ECB conducted an auction for a seven-day fixed-term deposit intended to absorb €205.5 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, March 8. 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 €286.41 billion, with the ECB allotting €205.5 billion or 71.75 per cent of the total bid amount. The marginal rate on the auction was set at 0.04 per cent, with the weighted average rate at 0.03 per cent.
On Wednesday, March 13, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation was carried out at a fixed rate of 0.66 per cent and attracted no bids from euro area eligible counterparties.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on June 14 and September 13, respectively. Bids of €28.5 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting only €1.5 million, while bids of €43.5 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €4 million. Since €14.2 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €8.7 million, to stand at €274.5 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.732 per cent, i.e. one basis point lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on March 8, 2013, representing a bid price of 99.8153 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 0.781 per cent, i.e. 1.9 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on February 15, representing a bid price of 99.6067 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 bills and 182-day bills maturing on June 21 and September 20, respectively.