On December 4, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO).
The operation was conducted on December 5 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counter-parties of €2.26 billion, €2.74 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 December 6, 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 1.70 per cent.
During the week under review, participants in the second, fourth and sixth series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations had the option of terminating or reducing their outstanding amount in these operations before maturity. Accordingly, on December 20, a total of €2.75 billion will be repaid.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 181-day bills for settlement value December 7, maturing on March 8 and June 6, 2018, respectively. Bids of €55 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €17.50 million, while bids of €75 million were submitted for the 181-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €5 million. Since €17 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €5.50 million, to stand at €197.90 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.375 per cent, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 30, representing a bid price of €100.0949 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 181-day bill auction was -0.336 per cent, down by one basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on November 23, representing a bid price of €100.1692 per €100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Yesterday, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 363-day bills maturing on March 15 and December 12, 2018, respectively.