Monetary operations
On May 11, the European Central Bank announced a seven-day Main Refinancing Operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on May 12 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €0.27 billion, €0.08 billion less 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 zero per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On May 12, the ECB conducted the Additional Longer-term Refinancing Operation maturing on June 24, which attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €6.82 billion.
On May 13, the ECB conducted the 84-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $3.25 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.30 per cent.
On a daily basis, the ECB conducted the seven-day US dollar funding operations through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. The five operations attracted bids of a total of $0.88 billion, at the rates of 0.30 and 0.31 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills and 182-day bills for settlement value May 14, maturing on August 13, and November 12 respectively. Bids of €65 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €45 million, while bids of €80 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €10 million. Since €13 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €42 million, standing at €724 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.205 per cent, an increase of 1.4 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on May 7, representing a bid price of €100.0518 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.160 per cent, a decrease of 2.9 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on April 30, representing a bid price of €100.0810 per €100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills and 364-day bills maturing on August 20, 2020 and May 20, 2021, respectively.