On Monday, August 24, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, August 25, and attracted bids from euro-area eligible counterparties of €72.48 billion, €2.92 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 August 26, 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 €33.13 billion from euro-area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.
On 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 $0.14 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.62 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day and 181-day bills maturing on November 26, 2015 and February 25, 2016, respectively. Bids of €6 million were submitted for the 90-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3 million, while bids of €27 million were submitted for the 181-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €7 million. Since €12 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €2 million, to stand at €243.05 million.
The yield from the 90-day bill auction was -0.023 per cent, up by 1.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on August 21, representing a bid price of 100.0058 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 181-day bill auction was zero per cent, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on July 3, representing a bid price of 100.00 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 90-day bills maturing on December 3.