On Monday, April 4, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €56.01 billion, €6.31 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 0.00 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, April 6, 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 $0.05 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.86 per cent.
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 July 7 and October 6, respectively. Bids of €45 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €8 million, while bids of €35 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3 million. Since €30 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €19 million, to stand at €350.65 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.150 per cent, down by 1.2 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on April 1, representing a bid price of 100.0379 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.110 per cent, down by 1.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor also issued on April 1, representing a bid price of 100.0556 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 July 14.