Eurosystem Monetary Operations

On Monday, 1 September, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO). This attracted bids for e226.3 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, with the ECB allotting e160 billion, or 70.7% of the total amount bid for. The marginal rate, which is the rate at which the total tender allotment is exhausted, was set by the ECB at 4.39%, unchanged from the marginal rate resulting from the MRO of the previous week.

Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on 5 December 2008. Bids for e112.08 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting e53.4 million. Since e39.79 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by e13.61 million to e426.1 million.

The yield resulting from the auction was 4.794%, 6.7 basis points lower than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on 22 August 2008. The latest yield represented a bid price of 98.8027 per 100 nominal.

On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 182-day bills maturing on 20 March 2009, and the following week it will invite tenders for 182-day bills maturing on 27 March 2009.

Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to e773,000 with the bulk of the trades conducted by the Bank. Off-Exchange transactions amounted to e360,000.