On Monday, November 21, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on Tuesday, November 22, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €33.72 billion, €1.08 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 zero per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, November 23, 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 $1.34 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.89 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 182-day bills maturing on December 22 and May 25, 2017, respectively.

Bids of €40 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3 million, while bids of €60 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €30 million. Since €12 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €21 million, to stand at €271 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.394 per cent, down by 0.1 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 17, representing a bid price of 100.0307 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 0.386 per cent, down by 0.7 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 27, representing a bid price of 100.1955 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 29 and March 2, 2017, respectively.