On Monday, June 22, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, June 23, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €88.23 billion, €1.42 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, June 24, the ECB conducted a three-month, longer-term refinancing operation to be settled as a fixed rate tender procedure with full allotment, with the rate fixed at the average rate of the MROs over the life of the operation. The auction attracted bids of €17.27 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy. Also on Wednesday, June 24, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted one bid of $0.12 billion, which 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 91- day bills maturing on September 25. Bids of €37 million were submitted for the bills, with the Treasury accepting €20.50 million. Since €4 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €16.50 million, to stand at €230.55 million. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.003 per cent, down by 3.3 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on June 19, representing a bid price of 100.0008 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 90-day and 181-day bills maturing on October 1 and December 31, respectively.