Money Market Report for the week ending 16 October

ECB Monetary Operations

On 12 October, the European Central Bank announced a sevenday Main Refinancing Operation. The operation was conducted on 13 October and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €1.01bn, €0.16bn 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 14 October, the ECB conducted the seven-day and 84-day US dollar funding operations through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. The seven-day USD operation attracted bids of $0.05bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.34%. The 84-day USD operation attracted bids of $0.02bn, also allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.33%.

Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day bills and 182-day bills for settlement value 15 October, maturing on 12 November and 15 April 2021, respectively. Bids of €95m were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20m, while bids of €115m were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €10m. Since €50m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €20m to stand at €717.5m.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.485%, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on 8 October, representing a bid price of €100.0377 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 182day bill auction was -0.476%, a decrease of 0.4 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on 1 October, representing a bid price of €100.2412 per €100 nominal.

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

On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day bills and 91-day bills maturing on 19 November and 21 January 2021, respectively.