On Monday, July 20, 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 €75.15 billion, €0.39 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, July 22, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.36 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.63 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day bills maturing on October 22. Bids of €58 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €16 million. Since €13 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €3 million, to stand at €250.55 million. The yield from the 90-day bill auction was -0.036 per cent, down by 0.6 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on July 17, representing a bid price of 100.0090 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 90-day bills maturing on August 28 and October 29, respectively.