On November 12, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on November 13 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €6.74 billion, €0.18 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 November 14, the ECB conducted an eight-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.06 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 2.71 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 27-day and 272-day bills for settlement value November 15 maturing on December 12 and August 14, 2019 respectively. Bids of €32 million were submitted for the 27-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20.00 million, while bids of €15 million were submitted for the 272-day bills, with the Treasury accepting all bids. Since €35 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills remained unchanged at €307 million.

The yield from the 27-day bill auction was -0.355 per cent, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor also issued on November 8 representing a bid price of €100.0266 per €100 nominal. Similarly, the yield from the 272-day bill auction was -0.348 per cent, down by 2.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on September 13 representing a bid price of €100.2636 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 20 and February 21, 2019 respectively.