On March 12, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation. The operation was conducted on March 13 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €1.02 billion, €0.13 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 0.00 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On March 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 $0.08 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.96 per cent.
During the week under review, participants in the first, third, fifth and seventh operations 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 March 28, a total of €0.95 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 March 15, maturing on June 14 and September 13 respectively. Bids of €35 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20 million, while €35 million were also submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €5 million. Since €2.5 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €22 million, to stand at €236 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.361 per cent, up by 0.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on March 8, representing a bid price of €100.0913 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.361 per cent, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor also issued on March 8, representing a bid price of €100.1828 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 182-day bills maturing on June 21 and September 20 respectively.