On Monday, December 29, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €156.13 billion, €36.97 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day and 182-day bills maturing on April 2, and July 3, respectively. Bids of €61 million were submitted for the 90-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20 million, while bids of €66 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €13 million. Since €24 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €9 million, to stand at €149.44 million.

The yield from the 90-day bill auction was 0.032 per cent, i.e. 4.8 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on December 12, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9920 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was 0.052 per cent, i.e. 6.3 basis points lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on December 5, 2014, representing a bid price of 99.9737 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 February 6, and April 10, respectively.