On Monday, December 14, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation (MRO). This auction, which was conducted on Tuesday, attracted bids for €52.90 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of one per cent in accordance with the current ECB policy.

Also on Monday December 14, the Eurosystem and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) conducted a EUR/CHF foreign exchange swap, with a seven-day maturity, to provide Swiss franc liquidity against the euro. This operation attracted bids for €2.28 billion, and since this was well below the intended amount of €25 billion, all bids were allotted in full at a fixed price of -0.67 swap points.

As announced by the Governing Council in a press release dated December 3, on Tuesday, December 15, the ECB announced its last Longer-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) with a maturity of 371 days. This operation attracted bids for €96.94 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full at a rate to be fixed at the average minimum bid rate of the MROs over the life of the operation.

Also on Tuesday, December 15, the ECB announced an LTRO with a maturity of 105 days. In this LTRO, the ECB received bids for €2.56 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of one per cent.

On Wednesday, December 16, the ECB, in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve, conducted a six-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending. This attracted bids for $7.6 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.15 per cent.

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 182-day bills maturing on June 18, 2010. Bids for €46.43 million were submitted, but none were accepted.

This was the second consecutive week during which the Treasury opted not to accept any bids. Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills remained at €474.14 million.

This week the Treasury invited tenders for 92-day bills maturing on March 26, 2010.

Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €0.91 million during the week, of which €0.56 million were conducted by the Central Bank of Malta in its role as market maker. Off-exchange transactions, all conducted by the Central Bank of Malta, amounted to €0.1 million.