On Monday, July 21, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €97.89 billion, €2.02 billion 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 0.15 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, July 23, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted one bid of $0.08 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.60 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on October 24, and January 23, 2015, respectively. Bids of €16 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €8 million, while bids of €32 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting only €2 million. Since €19.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €9.50 million, to stand at €407.07 million.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.294 per cent, i.e. 0.20 basis point lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on July 18, representing a bid price of 99.9257 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 0.350 per cent, i.e. 2.5 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on June 27, representing a bid price of 99.8234 per 100 nominal.

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

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on October 31.