28 April 2004 07:59
Russian eurobond quotations down in heavy trading
MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - Quotations for Russian eurobonds were significantly down on Wednesday in heavy
trading.
Moscow bank representatives said there were major Russian eurobond sales by foreign investors on Wednesday, as in the
run-up to the publication of important economic data a majority of operators do not want to find themselves awash in
paper.
The U.S. Labor Department will issue preliminary first-quarter GDP figures on Thursday and, since all the recent
economic number have been positive, most operators are expecting these also to be. An improving U.S. economy has a
negative effect on U.S. Treasuries, as the possibility increases that the Federal Reserve could hike rates, and that
would lead to a drop in quotations for emerging-market eurobonds, including Russia's.
By 4:00 p.m. Moscow time on Wednesday, quotations for ruble-
denominated eurobonds were down appreciably from the day before.
"No one wants to be held hostage to good U.S. economic data that is bad for the bond sector, because market
participants have eliminated positions and done so very actively and aggressively," Nikoil trader Andrei Dabizha
told Interfax.
Starting in the morning, Dabizha said, attempts were made to step up buys, as spread between yield on Russian
sovereign eurobonds and U.S. Treasuries had widened to as much as it's been for the last half-year, but these
attempts met with no success, and by mid-day sales had picked up.
On the other hand, a trader at Roseximbank noted that after significant quotation slippage over the day; by evening,
prices had reached the support level and stabilized against a backdrop of significant trading volume, the market hosting
both buyers and sellers. "And it is not clear at this moment which of them will win, because future market dynamics
are also uncertain," he said.
Eurobonds that mature starting in 2018 lost over 1%. Quotations for bonds maturing in 2007 and 2010 lost an average
of 0.3%-0.5%, while 'short' bonds maturing in 2005 lost just 0.15%.
On the OVVZ domestic forex bond sector, April 28 was a day of negative price action, with quotations losing 0.1%-0.4%
on average. The only exception was 8th tranche bonds, which picked up slightly.
By 5:30 p.m. Moscow time, indicative OVVZ quotations for series five were 88.98%/89.51% of face value, series six
97.03%/97.56%, series seven 78.11%/78.88% and series eight 98.7%/95.25%. [RU EUROPE EEU ASIA EMRG GVD INSI EUB] cf
[Interfax] |
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