Money Market Report for the week ending 10 January

ECB Monetary Operations

On 6 January, the European Central Bank announced a seven-day main refinancing operations. The operation was conducted on 7 January and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €1.10bn, €0.36bn 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 9 January, the ECB conducted a sevenday US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.06bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.05%.

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 9 January, maturing on 9 April and 9 July respectively. Bids of €75m were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €4m, while bids of €70m were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €13m. Since €2m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €15m, standing at €322m.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was - 0.435%, a decrease of 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 2 January, representing a bid price of €100.1101 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.409%, a drop of 0.8 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on 5 December 2019, representing a bid price of €100.2072 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 16 April.