On October 30, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on October 31 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €3 billion, €2.32 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 November 1, 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 $0.04 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.66 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 for settlement value on November 2, which mature on November 30 and February 1, 2018, respectively.
Bids of €25 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €5 million, while bids of €94 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €21 million.
Since €5 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €21 million, to stand at €165.40 million. The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.383 per cent, down by a 0.4 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 26, representing a bid price of €100.0298 per €100 nominal.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.368 per cent, down by one basis point from bids with a similar tenor also issued on October 26, representing a bid price of €100.0931 per €100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
This week, the Treasury will invite tenders for 28-day and 273-day bills maturing on December 7 and August 9, 2018, respectively.