On Monday, November 12, the ECB announced its weekly main refinancing operation. The auction was conducted on Tuesday, November 13, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €75.21 billion, €4.26 billion lower than the bid amount in the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 0.75 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Tuesday, November 13, the ECB conducted a special-term refinancing operation with a maturity of 28 days. This attracted bids of €15.93 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 0.75 per cent, also in accordance with the current ECB policy.
Also on Tuesday, November 13, the ECB conducted an auction for a seven-day fixed-term deposit intended to absorb €208.5 billion. This operation was designed to sterilise the effect of purchases made under the Securities Markets Programme that were settled but had not yet matured by the previous Friday, November 9. The auction was carried out at a variable rate, with euro area eligible counterparties allowed to place up to four bids at a maximum rate of 0.75 per cent. It attracted bids amounting to €464.14 billion with the ECB allotting €208.5 billion, or 44.92 per cent, of the total bid amount. The marginal rate on the auction was set at 0.01 per cent, with the weighted average rate also set at 0.01 per cent.
On Wednesday, November 14, the ECB conducted an eight-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $3.31 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.66 per cent.
Domestic Treasurybill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day bills maturing on December 14. Bids of €35.45 million were submitted with the Treasury accepting €25.3 million. Since €19.15 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €6.15 million, to stand at €268.96 million.
The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 1.024 per cent, i.e. 3.8 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on November 9, representing a bid price of 99.9204 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 28-day bills and 91-day bills maturing on December 21, and on February 22, 2013, respectively.