On Monday, October 26, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €68.45 billion, €2.54 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 Wednesday, October 28, the ECB conducted a three-month, longer-term refinancing operation to be settled as a fixed rate tender procedure with full allotment, with the rate fixed at the average rate of the MROs over the life of the operation. The auction attracted bids of €18.13 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.

Also on Wednesday, 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 $0.14 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.61 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day bills maturing on November 26. Bids of €49 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €3.40 million. Since €16 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €12.60 million, to stand at €186.55 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.020 per cent, down by 0.9 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 22, representing a bid price of 100.0016 per 100 nominal.

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

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 273-day bills maturing on August 4, 2016.