21 May 2004 08:07
Eurobond price growth continues Friday
MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - Growth in quotes for Russian Eurobonds, which started on the previous day, continued on
Friday, helped in the second half of the day by news of the signing of a protocol on the completion of Russian-EU talks
on Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization.
Representatives from Moscow banks said that the optimism among investors that appeared on the previous day following
the upgrade in Kazakhstan's rating by Standard & Poor's to investment level, continued on Friday. Trading
in Russian forex bonds started with a smooth increase in price.
In the second half of the day, when the market learned of the
signing of a protocol at a summit in Moscow on the completion of
"Many people considered that the increase in the Kazakhstan rating means that Russia's rating will also be
increased soon. The mood on the market improved noticeably. Everybody that sold without thinking in expectation of a
deeper decline preferred to restore their positions for while. Everybody understood that growth in U.S. interest rates
is already figured into prices and there are currently no factors to push the market down," Denis Muzychkin, head
of the Obibank currency department, said.
Russian-EU talks on Russia's entry into the WTO, there were several non- aggressive purchases, which pushed
prices up. Quotes for Eurobonds maturing in 2020, which had only risen above 90% of face value on Thursday, managed to
top 91% of face value to reach 91%-91.125% of face value by the close of trading.
At the same time a source in Metallinvestbank said that the expected strong growth in price did not occur, as
operators largely managed to figure this event into prices.
Sources in Moscow banks also said that, according to rumors, state banks actively bought Russian Eurobonds over the
past two days, at the request of the Russian Pension Fund.
In general, the market for Russian Eurobonds on the last working day of the week looked a lot better than Eurobond
sectors in emerging markets, where price stagnation was noted on Friday.
At the same time, trading volumes were not large: the publication of U.S. statistics was not planned for Friday, in
addition most banks had a short day, the Metallinvestbank source said.
At 4:00 p.m., Moscow time quotes were up significantly for dollar- denominated Russian Eurobonds. The growth leaders
were bonds with maturity in 2028, which gained 1.5%-1.7%. The most liquid Eurobonds, maturing in 2030, gained a little
over 1% in price. All other Eurobonds gained 0.2%-0.5% on average.
Price growth also continued in the OVVZ sector on May 21 and the spread between purchase and sale prices narrowed.
OVVZ quotes gained 0.4%-0.8% on average on Friday. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG ASIA FRX EUB GVD INSI] rd <>
[Interfax] |
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