ECB Monetary Operations

On Monday, 20 July, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, 21 July and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €75.15bn, €0.39bn 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, 22 July, 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 $0.36bn, 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 90-day bills maturing on 22 October. Bids of €58m were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €16m. Since €13m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €3m, to stand at €250.55m.

The yield from the 90-day bill auction was -0.036%, down by 0.6 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 17 July, representing a bid price of 100.0090 per 100 nominal.

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

This week the Treasury will invite tenders for 28- and 90-day bills maturing on 28 August and 29 October, respectively.