ECB Monetary Operations

On Monday, June 22, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, June 23, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €88.23 billion, €1.42 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 0.05%, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, June 24, the ECB conducted a three-month, longer-term refinancing operation to be settled as a fixed rate tender procedure with full allotment, with the rate fixed at the average rate of the MROs over the life of the operation. The auction attracted bids of €17.27 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.

Also on Wednesday, June 24, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve.  This operation attracted one bid of $0.12 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.63%.

Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91- day bills maturing on September 25, 2015. Bids of €37.00 million were submitted for the bills, with the Treasury accepting €20.50 million. Since €4.00 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €16.50 million, to stand at €230.55 million.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.003%, down by 3.3 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on June 19, 2015, representing a bid price of 100.0008 per 100 nominal.  

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

On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day and 181-day bills maturing on October 1 and December 31, 2015, respectively.