On March 29, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on April 3, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €2.31 billion, €0.12bn 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 April 4, 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 2.18% 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 April 5, maturing on July 5 and October 4 respectively. Bids of €23.00 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €18 million. Similarly, €23 million were also submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €8 million. Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €26 million, to stand at €295 million.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.351 per cent, up by 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on March 29, representing a bid price of €100.0888 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.357 per cent, increasing by 0.4 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on March 22, representing a bid price of €100.1808 per €100 nominal.

During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on May 10 and July 12 respectively.