Money Market Report for the week ending 6 September

ECB Monetary Operations

On 2 September, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operations. The operation was conducted on 3 September and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €2.35bn, €1bn 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 0.00%, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On 4 September, the ECB conducted a sevenday US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.04bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.63%.

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 5 September, maturing on 5 December and 5 March 2020, respectively. Bids of €40m were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €10m, while bids of €30m were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €2m. Since €12m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills remained unchanged at €294.3m.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was - 0.375%, an increase of 0.3 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 29 August, representing a bid price of €100.0949 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was also -0.375%, a decrease of 2.9 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on 11 July, representing a bid price of €100.1899 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 91-day bills maturing on 12 December.