Money Market Report for the week ending 17 November

ECB Monetary Operations

On 13 November, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation. The operation was conducted on 14 November and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €2.84bn, €0.14bn 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 0.00%, in accordance with current ECB policy.

On 15 November, the ECB conducted an eight-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.04bn, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.66%. Domestic Treasury Bill Market

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 28- and 91-day bills for settlement value 16 November, maturing on 14 December and 15 February 2018, respectively. Bids of €30m were submitted for the 28-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €10m, while bids of €55m were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €20m. Since €22m worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €8m, to stand at €183.40m.

The yield from the 28-day bill auction was -0.385%, down by 0.5 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 9 November, representing a bid price of €100.0300 per €100 nominal. The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.372%, down by 0.4 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on 2 November, representing a bid price of €100.0941 per €100 nominal.

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

On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 28- and 182-day bills maturing on 21 December and 24 May 2018, respectively