ECB Monetary Operations

On Monday, 8 December, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, 9 December and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €105.22bn, €7.18bn higher 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, 10 December, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation was carried out at a fixed rate of 0.62% and did not attract bids from euro area eligible counterparties.

Furthermore, on Thursday, 11 December, the ECB conducted the second Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation, as announced in the press release of Thursday, 5 June. This operation attracted bids of €129.84bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.15%.

 

Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28- and 91-day bills maturing on 9 January and 13 March 2015, respectively. Bids of €39m were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €6m, while bids of €61m were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €2.80m. Since €33.50m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €24.70m, to stand at €209.94m.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 0.060%, that is, 0.7 basis point lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on 28 November, representing a bid price of 99.9953 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.080%, that is, unchanged from the bills with a similar tenor issued on 5 December, representing a bid price of 99.9798 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 91- and 182-day bills maturing on 20 March and 19 June 2015, respectively.