On Monday, February 20, the ECB announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation. The auction was conducted on Tuesday, February 21, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €166.49 billion, €23.74 billion higher than the amount bid for in the previous week.
The bid amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of one per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Tuesday, February 21, the ECB conducted an auction for a seven-day fixed-term deposit intended to absorb €219.50 billion. This operation was designed to sterilise the effect of purchases made under the Securities Markets Programme that were settled but had not yet matured by the previous Friday, February 17.
The auction was carried out at a variable rate, with euro area eligible counterparties allowed to place up to four bids at a maximum rate of one per cent. It attracted bids amounting to €372.24 billion, with the ECB allotting €219.50 billion, or 58.97 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate on the auction was set at 0.27 per cent, with the weighted average rate also at 0.27 per cent.
On Wednesday, February 22, 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 $3.61 billion, which were allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.60 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 May 25, 2012 and August 24, 2012, respectively. Bids of €13.3 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting only €0.45 million, while bids of €13 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €2 million.
Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €2.45 million, to stand at €198.81 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.897 per cent, i.e. 0.8 basis points higher than on bills with a similar tenor issued on February 17, 2012, representing a bid price of 99.7738 per 100 nominal.
The yield from the 182-day bill auction was one per cent, i.e. 0.5 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on February 3, 2012, representing a bid price of 99.4970 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 June 1, 2012.