On October 8, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO).

The operation was conducted on October 9 and attracted bids from the euro area eligible counterparties of €7.3 billion, €0.06 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 October 10, 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 were allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.69 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day bills for settlement value October 11, 2018, maturing on November 8, 2018. Bids of €45 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €17.5 million. Since €30 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €12.5 million, to stand at €295 million.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.356 per cent, down by 0.3 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on October 4, representing a bid price of €100.0277 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 November 15, 2018 and January 17, 2019, respectively.