On Monday, December 12, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on Tuesday, December 13, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €36.82 billion, €1.06 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, December 14, the ECB conducted a 21-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $4.34 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.13 per cent. On Thursday, December 15, the ECB conducted the third from the second series of Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation. This operation attracted bids of €62.16 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.00 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 January 12 and March 16, 2017, respectively. Bids of €10 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting all bids, while bids of €50 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20 million. Since €30 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills remained unchanged at €283.80 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.394 per cent, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 24, representing a bid price of 100.0307 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.380 per cent, up by 0.1 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 7, representing a bid price of 100.0961 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 bills maturing on March 23, 2017.