Fixed Income
Ukrainian sovereign Eurobonds ended the week firmly higher as market players bet on the country’s ability to get immediate financial support from the US and the EU, with the negative news of Russian military action in Crimea coming too late in the week to reverse the trend. The Ukraine-23 benchmark issue rose by 4.0% to close at 87.9/89.4 (9.5%/9.3%). Although there was a certain stabilization of the situation in Kyiv with the appointment of a new government dominated by Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivschyna party, this was quickly followed by the events in Crimea and major unrest in southeastern Ukrainian cities, where large segments of the population are pro-Russian. Crimea’s parliament was seized on Thursday by armed vigilantes who then allowed lawmakers inside for a session. The legislature voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the region’s current executive governing council and to hold a regional referendum on May 25 on seceding from Ukraine; the referendum date has since been pushed forwa
