On Monday, December 8, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, December 9, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €105.22 billion, €7.18 billion higher 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, December 10, 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 0.62 per cent and did not attract bids from euro area eligible counterparties.

Furthermore, on Thursday, December 11, the ECB conducted the second targeted longer term refinancing operation, as announced in the press release of Thursday, June 5. This operation attracted bids of €129.84 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.15 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 January 9 and March 13, respectively. Bids of €39 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €6 million, while bids of €61 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €2.80 million. Since €33.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €24.70 million, to stand at €209.94 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 0.060 per cent, i.e. 0.7 basis point lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on November 28, representing a bid price of 99.9953 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.080%, i.e. unchanged from the bills with a similar tenor issued on December 5, representing a bid price of 99.9798 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 and 182-day bills maturing on March 20 andJune 19 respectively.

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