On August 20, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on August 21 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €2.79 billion, €0.05 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 0.00 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On August 22, 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 $0.09 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.42 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 364-day bills for settlement value August 23, 2018, maturing on November 22, 2018 and August 22, 2019, respectively. Bids of €39 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €22 million, while bids of €22 million were submitted for the 364-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3 million. Since €32 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €7 million, to stand at €356.6 million. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.358 per cent, down by 0.2 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on August 16, representing a bid price of €100.0906 per €100 nominal.

The yield from the 364-day bill auction was -0.289 per cent, up by 1.1 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on December 14, 2017, representing a bid price of €100.2931 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 September 27 and November 29, 2018, respectively.

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