Money Market Report for the week ending 11 January

ECB Monetary Operations

On 7 January, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation. The operation was conducted on 8 January and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €7.33bn, €0.89bn 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 9 January, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in con- junction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.09bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.91%.

Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills for settlement value 10 January, maturing on 11 April. Bids of €20m were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €17m. Since €1m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €16m, to stand at €326m.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.342%, up by 0.6 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 3 January, representing a bid price of €100.0865 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-day and 273-day bills maturing on 18 April and 17 October, respectively.