On Monday, February 25, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO) through which the Eurosystem injects liquidity with a standard maturity of seven days into the euro area money market. This operation attracted bids for €233.2 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, with the ECB allotting €183 billion, or 78.04 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate, which is the rate at which the total tender allotment is exhausted, was set by the ECB at 4.10 per cent, unchanged from that of the previous week.

The following day, the ECB also announced the monthly Long-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO). This attracted bids for €109.6 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, with the ECB allotting €50 billion, or 45.62 per cent of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate on funds provided in this operation was set at 4.16 per cent, one basis point higher than that on funds provided in the supplementary LTRO held last week.

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 182-day bills maturing on August 29. Bids for €23.39 million worth of bills were submitted, and all were accepted by the Treasury. As €20.64 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €2.8 million to €328.5 million.

The yield resulting from the auction was 4.307 per cent, 3.8 basis points higher than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on February 1 and representing a bid price of 97.8690 per 100 nominal.

Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 28-day bills maturing on April 4.

Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €2.85 million during the week, while off-exchange transactions amounted to €1.5 million. The bulk of trades was conducted by the Bank in its role as market maker.