On Monday, November 17, 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 €102.59 billion, €4.17 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.
On Wednesday, November 19, the ECB conducted an eight-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation was carried out at a fixed rate of 0.60 per cent and did not attract bids from euro area eligible counterparties.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on December 19 and February 20, 2015, respectively. Bids of €35.50 million were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €10 million, while bids of €44.50 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €11 million.
Since €21 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills remained unchanged to stand at €248.49 million.
The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 0.071 per cent, i.e. 0.4 basis point lower than on bills with a similar tenor issued on November 14, representing a bid price of 99.9945 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was 0.090 per cent, i.e. 0.8 basis points higher than on bills with a similar tenor issued on November 14, representing a bid price of 99.9773 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 26-day and 91-day bills maturing on December 24 and February 27, 2015, respectively.