ECB Monetary Operations
On Monday, 26 January, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, 27 January, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €163.82bn, €38.57bn 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, 28 January, 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 €34.13bn from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.
Also on Wednesday, 28 January, 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 0.63% and did not attract bids from euro area eligible counterparties.
Domestic Treasury Bill Market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28- and 90-day bills maturing on 27 February and 30 April, respectively. Bids of €10m were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €1m, while bids of €20.42m were submitted for the 90-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €9m. Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €10m, to stand at €208.54m.
The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 0.020%, unchanged from the previous issue of 23 January, representing a bid price of 99.9984 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 90-day bill auction was 0.037%, i.e. 1.4 basis points higher than on bills with a similar tenor issued on 23 January, representing a bid price of 99.9908 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 8 May and 7 August, respectively.