On Monday, August 3, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €71.01 billion, €9.02 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 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, August 5, 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 $0.23 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.63 per cent.

Domestic Treasury bill market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day bills maturing on November 5. Bids of €43 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €10 million. Since €12 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €2 million, to stand at €246.55 million.

The yield from the 90-day bill auction was -0.047 per cent, down by 0.6 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on July 31, representing a bid price of 100.0118 per 100 nominal.

During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 90-day bills maturing on November 12.