Drop in three-month Treasury bill rate

On Monday, February 11, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO) through which the Eurosystem injects liquidity with a standard maturity of seven days into the euro area money market. This operation attracted bids for €223.7 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, with the ECB allotting €187.5 billion, or 83.82 per cent 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 4.10 per cent, that is seven basis points lower than the marginal rate of the previous week.

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on May 16. Bids for €34.8 million worth of bills were submitted, and out of these, the Treasury accepted bids for €10.2 million. As €8.1 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €2.1 million to €315.3 million.

The latest yield resulting from the auction was 4.11 per cent, which is 6.8 basis points less than the yield on bills with a similar tenor issued on February 8. This represented a bid price of 98.9718 per 100 nominal.

Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on May 23. Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange during the week amounted to €0.79 million, while off-Exchange transactions amounted to € 137,434. All transactions were conducted by the Bank in its role as market-maker.