On Monday, March 14, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on Tuesday, March 15, and attracted bids from eurozone eligible counterparties of €59.68 billion, €1.13 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 zero per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, March 16, 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 0.88 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 June 16 and December 15, respectively. Bids of €18 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting all bids, while bids of €5 million were submitted for the 273-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €2.50 million. Since €22 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €1.50 million, to stand at €352.15 million.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.147 per cent, up by 1.6 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on March 10, representing a bid price of 100.0372 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 273-day bill auction was -0.060 per cent, an increase of 3.6 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on February 4, representing a bid price of 100.0455 per 100 nominal.

During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.

This week the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on June 23 and September 22, respectively.