On Monday, March 9 the European Central Bank announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation. This attracted bids for €227.70 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 1.50 per cent.
On the same day, the Eurosystem and the Swiss National Bank conducted a EUR/CHF foreign exchange swap, with a seven-day maturity, to provide Swiss franc liquidity against the euro. This operation received bids for €36.22 billion.
As the volume of bids exceeded the intended volume of €25 billion, participating counter-parties received 69.02 per cent of the amounts bid for.
This operation was conducted at a fixed price of -3.25 swap points.
The following day the ECB conducted a Special Term Refinancing Operation with a maturity of 28 days.
The ECB received bids for €120.19 billion, at a fixed rate equivalent to the ECB's main refinancing rate of 1.50 per cent.
On the same day, the ECB announced two Longer-Term Refinancing Operations, one with a maturity of 91 days and the other with a maturity of 182 days. These operations received bids for €30.23 billion and €10.81 billion, respectively. Both LTROs were conducted at a fixed rate equivalent to the ECB's main refinancing rate of 1.50 per cent.
On the same day, it being the end of the reserve deposit maintenance period, the ECB also conducted an overnight liquidity-absorbing fine-tuning operation. This was carried out at a variable rate, with a maximum rate of two per cent.
This operation received bids for €111.50 billion, with the ECB accepting €110.83 billion, or 99.40 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate on this operation was set at 1.80 per cent.
On the same day, the ECB, in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve, conducted a 28-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending. This attracted bids for $15.97 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.26 per cent.
The next day, the ECB, in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve, conducted another US dollar funding operation, this time with a tenor of seven days. This attracted bids for $81.95 billion, which amount was again allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.22 per cent.
The amounts bid for in euro operations were allotted in full in accordance with the ECB's press release dated March 5.
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on June 12. Bids for €43.48 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €29.84 million. Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €29.84 million to €523.80 million. The yield resulting from the auction was 2.283 per cent, that is, 11.6 basis points less than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on March 6. The latest yield represented a bid price of 99.4262 per 100 nominal.
Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on June 19.
Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €12.69 million during the week, with €12.45 million trades being conducted by the Central Bank of Malta in its role as market maker and €0.23 million trades being conducted by other brokers. Off-exchange transactions amounted to €3.41 million, and all were conducted by the Central Bank of Malta.