On Monday, October 27, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, October 28, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €118.15 billion, €25.23 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, October 29, the ECB conducted a three-month longer-term refinancing operation to be settled as a fixed rate tender procedure with full allotment, with the rate fixed at the average rate of the MROs over the life of the operation. The auction attracted bids of €10.16 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.

Also on Wednesday, October 29, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation was carried out at a fixed rate of 0.59 per cent and did not attract bids from euro area eligible counterparties.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day bills maturing on November 28. Bids of €37.00 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €22 million. Since €39.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €17.50 million, to stand at €261.42 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 0.086 per cent, i.e. 2.6 basis points higher than on bills with a similar tenor issued on October 24, representing a bid price of 99.9933 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 and 182-day bills maturing on December 5 and May 8, 2015, respectively.