On Monday, August 11, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €108.20 billion, €0.28 billion higher 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, August 13, 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 0.59 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 92-day bills maturing on November 14. Bids of €65 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €20 million. Since €33.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €13.50 million, to stand at €358.07 million. The yield from the 92-day bill auction was 0.257 per cent, i.e. 2.3 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on August 1, representing a bid price of 99.9344 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 and 182-day bills maturing on November 21, 2014, and February 20, 2015, respectively.