ECB Monetary Operations
On Monday, 24 August, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, 25 August and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €72.48bn, €2.92bn 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, 26 August, 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 €33.13bn from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full in accordance with current ECB policy.
Also on Wednesday, 26 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 $0.14bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.62%.
Domestic Treasury Bill Market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90- and 181-day bills maturing on 26 November and 25 February 2016, respectively. Bids of €6 were submitted for the 90-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €3, while bids of €27 were submitted for the 181-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €7. Since €12m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €2m, to stand at €243.05m.
The yield from the 90-day bill auction was -0.023%, up by 1.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on 21 August, representing a bid price of 100.0058 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 181-day bill auction was 0.00%, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on 3 July, representing a bid price of 100.000 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 maturing on 3 December.