Money Market Report for the week ending 12 October

ECB Monetary Operations

On 8 October, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation. The operation was conducted on 9 October and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €7.30bn, €0.06bn higher than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the pre- vailing MRO rate of 0.00%, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On 10 October, 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 $0.09bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.69%.

Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day bills for settlement value 11 October, maturing on 8 November. Bids of €45m were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €17.5m. Since €30m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €12.5m, to stand at €295m.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.356%, down by 0.3 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 4 October, representing a bid price of €100.0277 per €100 nominal.

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

This week the Treasury will invite tenders for 28- and 91-day bills maturing on 15 November and 17 January 2019, respectively.