On Monday, January 2, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted the following day and attracted bids from eurozone eligible counterparties of €34.01 billion, €5.13 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 0.00 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, January 4, the ECB conducted a seven-day dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $2.14 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.16 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 273-day bills maturing on April 6 and October 5, respectively. Bids of €70 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €15 million, while bids of €55 million were submitted for the 273-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3 million.

Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €18 million, to stand at €272 million.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.395 per cent, down by 0.3 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 29, 2016, representing a bid price of 100.0999 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 273-day bill auction was -0.387 per cent, down by 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 7, 2016, representing a bid price of 100.2943 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 April 13 and July 13, respectively.

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