Money Market Report for the week ending 20 April

ECB Monetary Operations

On 16 April, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation. The operation was conducted on 17 April and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €1.64bn, €0.04bn lower 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 0.00%, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On 18 April, 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 $0.08bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.19%.

Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders 91- and 182-day bills for settlement value 19 April, maturing on 19 July and 18 October, respectively. Bids of €33m were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €23m, while bids of €27m were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3m. Since €25m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €1m, to stand at €303m.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.352%, up by 0.1 basis point from bids with a sim- ilar tenor issued on 12 April, representing a bid price of €100.0891 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.355%, up by 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 5 April, representing a bid price of €100.1798 per €100 nominal.

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

On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 91- and 182-day bills maturing on 26 July and 25 October, respectively.