ECB monetary operations

On June 20, the European Central Bank announced the seven-day main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on June 21 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €688 million, €19 million more than 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 June 22, the ECB conducted the seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $184.40 million, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.84 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 182-day and 273-day bills for settlement value June 23, maturing on December 22, 2022, and March 23, 2023, respectively.

Bids of €18 million and €19 million were submitted for the 182-day and 273-day bills, respectively, with the Treasury accepting all submitted bids. Since €54 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €17 million, standing at €847.10 million.

The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 0.390 per cent, increasing by 10.0 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on June 16, representing a bid price of €99.8032 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 273-day bill auction was 0.854 per cent, increasing by 110.9 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on May 5, representing a bid price of €99.3566 per €100 nominal.

During this week, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Yesterday, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on September 29, and December 29, respectively.

The report was prepared by the Monetary Operations and Collateral Management Office of the Central Bank of Malta.