On June 12, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO).The operation was conducted on June 13 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €11.01 billion, €1.09 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 June 14, 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 $0.04 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.65 per cent.
During the week under review, participants in the first series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations had the option of terminating or reducing their outstanding amount in these operations before maturity. Accordingly, on June 28, a total of €1.81 billion will be repaid.
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 June 15, maturing on September 14, and December 14, respectively. Bids of €32 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3 million, while bids of €25 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting also €2 million. Since €10 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €5 million, to stand at €197 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.334 per cent, down by 0.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on June 8, representing a bid price of €100.0845 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.284 per cent, a drop of 0.4 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on June 8, representing a bid price of €100.1438 per €100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 90-day and 182-day bills maturing on September 20 and December 21 respectively.