Money Market Report for the week ended February 26, 2010
Yield on 273-day Treasury Bills falls to 1.1 per cent On Monday, February 22, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO). This auction, which was conducted on Tuesday, attracted bids for €81.42 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 1.00 per cent in accordance with the current ECB policy.
On Tuesday, February 23, the ECB announced a standard Longer-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) with a maturity of 91-days. In this LTRO, the ECB received bids for €10.21 billion, which amount was also allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 1.00 per cent.
Domestic Treasury Bill Market In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 273-day bills maturing on November 26, 2010. Bids for €106.1 million were submitted, with the Treasury allotting €5 million. Since €22.07 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €17.07 million to €488.69 million.
The yield resulting from the auction was 1.1 per cent, i.e. 50 basis points less than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on September 25, 2009. The latest yield represented a bid price of 99.1727 per 100 nominal.
On Tuesday, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on June 4, 2010.
Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €3.09 million during the week. Concurrently off-exchange transactions amounted to just €0.1 million, with all trades being transacted by the Central Bank of Malta.
