Fixed Income
Ukraine’s sovereign Eurobonds enjoyed a continuation of their solid new-year momentum last week, with the benchmark Ukraine-23 long-term issue adding 2.2% (prior to this weekend’s political turmoil in Kyiv) and ending at 94.3/95.3 (8.4%/8.2%). Investor appetite was driven by falling yields across the emerging market bond universe. The overall average yield for bonds issued by countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is 5.3%, a notable drop from the level just three weeks ago at the start of the year. Thus far in 2014, Eastern European powerhouse Poland has sold a EUR 2.0bn 10-year bond at 3.03%, while Slovakia issued a EUR 1.5bn, 15-year bond at 3.65%. Medium term Ukraine-17s rose by 1.6% to close at 97.0/98.2 (7.7%/7.3%). Short term papers with maturity in June were little-changed, inching up by 0.1% to 100.5/101.3 (6.5%/4.4%).
