Money market report for the week ended March 21
Information on ECB monetary operations and the domestic Treasury bill market
ECB monetary operations
On March 17, the European Central Bank announced the seven-day main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on March 18, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €8,436.50 million, €1,824 million more than the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 2.65%, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On March 19, 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 $85.90 million, which were allotted in full at a fixed rate of 4.58%.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills for settlement value March 20, maturing on June 19 and September 18 respectively.
Bids of €16.44 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, while bids of €4.54 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting them all. Since €84.57 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €63.59 million, standing at €563.66 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 2.393%, decreasing by 1.20 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on March 13 representing a bid price of €99.3987 per €100 nominal.
The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 2.289%, decreasing by 0.40 basis point from bids with a similar tenor also issued on March 13, representing a bid price of €98.8560 per €100 nominal.
During the week, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on June 26 and September 25, respectively.
The report is prepared by the Monetary Operations and Collateral Management Office of the Central Bank of Malta.