On Monday, November 9, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, November 10, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €62.53 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Thursday, November 12, the ECB conducted a six-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.15 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.63 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 10, 2015, and February 11, 2016, respectively. Bids of €17 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €6.30 million, while bids of €56 million were also submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €22 million. Since €15.60 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €12.70 million, to stand at €199.25 million.
The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.030 per cent, down by 1.0 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 29, representing a bid price of 100.0023 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.040 per cent, down by 4.0 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 1, representing a bid price of 100.0101 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 91-day bills maturing on December 17 and February 18, 2016, respectively.