Money Market Report for the week ending 27 March
ECB Monetary Operations
On 23 March, the European Central Bank announced a sevenday Main Refinancing Operation. The operation was conducted on 24 March and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €1.05bn, €0.42bn 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 24 March, the ECB conducted the Additional Longerterm Refinancing Operation maturing on 24 June, which attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €79.67bn. This operation was carried out through a fixed rate tender procedure with full allotment, with an interest rate that is equal to the average deposit facility rate during the life of the operation.
On 25 March, the ECB conducted a three-month, longerterm refinancing operation to be settled as a fixed rate tender procedure with full allotment, with the rate fixed at the average rate of the MROs over the life of the operation. The operation attracted bids of €0.62bn from euro area eligible counterparties. The amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.
Also on 25 March, 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 $27.81bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.35%.
On daily basis the ECB 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 $26.77bn, with the rate ranging between 0.32% and 0.38%.
Domestic Treasury Bill Market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 273day bills for settlement value 26 March, maturing on 25 June and 24 December, respectively. Bids of €20m were submitted for the 91day bills, with the Treasury accepting all bids, while bids of €12m were submitted for the 273day bills, with the Treasury also accepting all submitted bids. Since €42m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €10m, to stand at €427m.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.395%, an increase of 2.3 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on 18
March, representing a bid price of €100.0999 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 273-day bill auction was -0.238%, an increase of 11.2 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on 20 February, representing a bid price of €100.1808 per €100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta
Stock Exchange.
On Monday, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills and 182-day bills maturing on 2 July and 1 October, respectively.