On Monday, August 15, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €41.65 billion, €0.03 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 0.00 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, August 16, 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 $0.01 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.90 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills, maturing on November 17. Bids of €73 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €18 million. Since €21 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €3 million, to stand at €301.95 million.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.330 per cent, down by 0.9 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on August 11, representing a bid price of 100.0835 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 24, and February 23, 2017, respectively.