On Monday, December 21, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on Tuesday, December 22, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €72.91 billion, €4.34 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 182-day and 364-day bills maturing on June 23 and December 22, 2016, respectively. Bids of €50 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20 million, while bids of €60 million were submitted for the 364-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €8 million. Since €35 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €7 million, to stand at €237.05 million.

The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.098 per cent, up by a 0.2 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 10, representing a bid price of 100.0496 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 364-day bill auction was -0.121 per cent, down by 171.9 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 5, 2012, representing a bid price of 100.1225 per 100 nominal.

During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 92-day and 273-day bills maturing on April 1 and September 29, 2016, respectively.