On July 31, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on August 1  and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €4.27 billion, €3.08 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 August 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 $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 91-day and 182-day bills for settlement value August 3, maturing on November 2 and February 1, 2018, respectively.

Bids of €40 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €5 million, while bids of €36 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €2 million. Since €12 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €5 million, to stand at €156.40 million.

The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.345 per cent, down by 0.3 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on July 27, representing a bid price of €100.0873 per €100 nominal.

The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.300 per cent, down by one basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on June 22, representing a bid price of €100.1519 per €100 nominal. During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day bills maturing on November 9.