On Monday, May 19, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €131.96 billion, €5.35 billion lower than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 0.25 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
Also on Tuesday, May 20, the ECB conducted an auction for a seven-day fixed-term deposit intended to absorb €167.50 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, May 16. 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 0.25 per cent. It attracted bids amounting to €137.47 billion, with the ECB allotting the full amount. The marginal rate on the auction was set at 0.25 per cent, with the weighted average rate at 0.24 per cent.
On Wednesday, May 21, the ECB conducted an eight-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 0.59 per cent and once again did not attract 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 August 22 and November 21, respectively. Bids of €14.40 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting none of the bids, while bids of €41.50 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €6 million. Since €6 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills remained unchanged at €361.37 million.
The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 0.623%, i.e. 2.7 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on May 9, representing a bid price of 99.6860 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 maturing on August 29.