ECB Monetary Operations
On Monday, 17 August, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, 18 August and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €69.56bn, €0.11bn 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%, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, 19 August, 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 $0.13bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.63%.
Domestic Treasury Bill Market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day bills maturing on 19 November. Bids of €28m were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €10m. Since €11m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €1m, to stand at €245.05m.
The yield from the 90-day bill auction was -0.038%, up by 1.0 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 14 August, representing a bid price of 100.0095 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
This week the Treasury will invite tenders for 90-day bills and 181-day bills maturing on 26 November and 25 February 2016, respectively.