On Monday, November 16, 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 €60.53 billion, €2.01 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, November 18, the ECB conducted an eight-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 0.63 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on December 17, and February 18, 2016, respectively. Bids of €13 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €5 million, while bids of €46 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €21 million. Since €12 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €14 million, to stand at €213.25 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.022 per cent, up by 0.8 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 12, 2015, representing a bid price of 100.0017 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.042 per cent, down by 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 12, representing a bid price of 100.0106 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 24, and May 26, 2016, respectively.