On Monday, November 14, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on Tuesday, November 15, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €32.64 billion, €1.19 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 zero per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, November 16, 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 $0.20 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.91 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 15 and February 16, 2017, respectively. Bids of €25 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €9.50 million, while bids of €60 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €22 million. Since €25 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €6.50 million, to stand at €250 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.393 per cent, up by 0.1 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 10, representing a bid price of 100.0306 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.391 per cent, also up by 0.1 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 3, representing a bid price of 100.0989 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 22 and May 25, 2017, respectively.