On Monday, February 1, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €61.23 billion, €7.74 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, February 3, 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 $0.09 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.88 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 273-day bills maturing on May 5 and November 3, respectively.
Bids of €19 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €17 million, while bids of €7 million were submitted for the 273-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €6 million. Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €23 million, to stand at €349.05 million. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.142 per cent, up by 0.9 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on January 28, representing a bid price of 100.0359 per 100 nominal.
The yield from the 273-day bill auction was -0.096 per cent, up by 0.4 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 31, 2015, representing a bid price of 100.0729 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 May 12 and August 11, respectively.