The flood of new bond issuance by Asian borrowers continued last week, and the deluge is set to continue during the next few days according to busy DCM bankers. Increased optimism about the global economic outlook could soon mean new borrowers will have to pay higher absolute rates, hence the urgency to lock in cheap funding now.
Equity and other risk markets were given a boost by the launch of further quantitative easing by US Fed chairman Bernanke, following the latest moves a week earlier by the European Central Bank to alleviate the eurozone crisis. In contrast, yields on safe-haven US and German government bonds moved higher, as fund...