ECB Monetary Operations

On Monday, 27 October, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, 28 October and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €118.15bn, €25.23bn 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%, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On Wednesday, 29 October, the ECB conducted a three-month longer-term refinancing operation to be settled as a fixed rate tender procedure with full allotment, with the rate fixed at the average rate of the MROs over the life of the operation. The auction attracted bids of €10.16bn from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.

Also on Wednesday, 29 October, the ECB conducted a seven-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 0.59% 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 bills maturing on 28 November. Bids of €37m were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €22m. Since €39.50m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €17.50m to stand at €261.42m.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was 0.086%, i.e. 2.6 basis points higher than on bills with a similar tenor issued on 24 October, representing a bid price of 99.9933 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 28-day and 182-day bills maturing on 5 December and 8 May 2015, respectively.