On April 9, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on April 10 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €1.67 billion, €0.63 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 April 11, 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 were allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.19 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills for settlement value on April 12, maturing on May 10 and July 12, respectively. Bids of €23 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3 million, while bids of €29 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €12 million. Since €8 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €7 million, to stand at €302 million.
The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.368 per cent, up by 0.7 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on February 22, representing a bid price of €100.0286 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.353 per cent, down by 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on April 5, representing a bid price of €100.0893 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 July 19 and October 18, respectively.