On Monday, September 19, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on Tuesday, September 20, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €43.18 billion, €1.60 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 zero per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, September 21, 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 $0.29 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.95 per cent.
On Thursday, September 22, the ECB conducted the second of the new Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation. This operation attracted bids of €45.27 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of zero per cent. The final interest rate applied to this operation may differ and will be determined according to article 5 of Decision ECB/2016/10.
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 December 22 and June 22, 2017, respectively. Bids of €30 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20 million, while bids of €40 million were submitted for the 273-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €5 million. Since €20 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €5 million, to stand at €274.75 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.378 per cent, up by 0.9 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on September 15, representing a bid price of 100.0956 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 273-day bill auction was -0.315 per cent, down by 2.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor also issued on August 11, representing a bid price of 100.2394 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on October 27 and December 29 respectively.