On January 8, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on January 9 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €3.01 billion, €0.10 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 January 10, 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 $0.12 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.92 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 for settlement value January 11, maturing on April 12 and July 12, respectively. Bids of €40 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 €2 million. Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €10 million, to stand at €187 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.379 per cent, down by 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 21, representing a bid price of €100.0959 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.341 per cent, down by 0.5 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 7, representing a bid price of €100.1727 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 273-day bills maturing on April 19 and October 18, respectively.