News Highlights - Week of 16 - 20 September 2013
The United States (US) Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC) decided last week to maintain its asset purchase program at its current
pace of monthly purchases of longer-term Treasury securities and agency
mortgage-backed securities amounting to US$45 billion and US$40 billion,
respectively. It also decided to maintain the target range for the federal
funds rate at between zero and 0.25%. Economic projections from FOMC's 17-18
September meetings reflected continued expectations of moderate economic growth
that will gradually pick up as well as gradual progress toward inflation and
unemployment rates consistent with the Federal Reserve's mandate to foster
price stability and maximum employment.
* Consumer price
inflation in Malaysia moderated to 1.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) in August from
2.0% in July. Producer prices in the Republic of Korea fell 1.3% y-o-y in
August following a 1.0% drop in July.
* Japan's
merchandise trade deficit widened to JPY960.3 billion in August from JPY768.4
billion a year ago, as exports of goods increased 14.7% y-o-y to JPY5.8
trillion, while merchandise imports surged 16.0% y-o-y to JPY6.7 trillion. In
the Philippines, personal remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 6.4% y-o-y
to US$13.9 billion for the January-July period, while the balance of payments
(BOP) surplus widened on an annual basis to US$1 billion in 2Q13 from US$73
million in 2Q12. Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell 6.2% y-o-y in
August following a 1.9% drop in July.
* Thailand's
Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) auctioned THB5
billion worth of 2-year bonds with a 3.3% coupon and THB7 billion of 5-year
bonds with a 4.015% coupon. SK Global Chemical Company based in the Republic of
Korea raised CNH950 million from pricing a 3-year bond in Hong Kong, China at a
coupon rate of 4.125%. The Indonesian government announced last week details of
its planned retail bond sale beginning 20 September through 4 October. The
bonds will carry a maturity of 3 years and a coupon rate of 8.5%.
* Greentown
China Holdings issued a 5.5-year bond worth US$300 million at a coupon rate of
8.0% last week. Korea Eximbank raised US$1 billion from a dual-tranche bond
sale last week, with the bonds comprising a US$500 million 5-year fixed-rate
note offering a 2.875% coupon and a US$500 million 3-year floating-rate note
priced at par at a spread of 85 basis points over 3-month Libor.
* Fitch Ratings
(Thailand) reported last week that it had assigned an A+(tha) National
Long-Term Rating on the secured bonds of CP ALL Public Company Limited, a
retail firm based in Thailand. Meanwhile, Moody's assigned a Ba3 (hyb) rating
to Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company's (Metrobank) proposed Tier 2 capital
notes issuance. Metrobank is a Philippine-based commercial bank.
* Last week,
government bond yields fell for all tenors in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea,
and Malaysia, and for most maturities in Hong Kong, China; the Philippines;
Singapore; Thailand; and Viet Nam. Yield movements were mixed in the People's
Republic of China (PRC). Yield spreads between 2- and 10-year tenors widened in
the PRC and Viet Nam and narrowed in Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; the Republic
of Korea; Malaysia; the Philippines; Singapore; and Thailand.
* The upcoming
issue of the Asia Bond Monitor (ABM) will be released on 26 September and
available for download on the AsianBondsOnline website.
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