On Friday, October 28, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on Monday, October 31, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €32.73 billion, €3.30 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 zero per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, November 2, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $1 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 1 and February 2, 2017, respectively. Bids of €20 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting all bids, while bids of €60 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €7 million.
Since €34 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €7 million, to stand at €253.75 million.The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.393 per cent, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 27, representing a bid price of 100.0306 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.392 per cent, down by 0.4 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 20, representing a bid price of 100.0992 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 27-day and 273-day bills maturing on December 7 and August 10, 2017, respectively.