Due to the lack of fresh drivers and as most market players await the result of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on Thursday, the Thomson Reuters BPAM All Bond Index posted a minimal gain of 0.02 per cent and ended the week at 139.23.
On Thursday, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) held the second MPC meeting for the year in which the central bank had decided to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate at 3.25 per cent.
In the MPC statement, BNM had mentioned that while the global economy continues to expand at a moderate pace, there has been increasing divergence in the growth momentum among the major economies.
On the local front, domestic demand has continued to support growth amid a moderation in exports in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Going forward, domestic demand will remain as the key driver of growth. For the headline inflation, it is expected to trend higher for the rest of 2015, but to be below its historical average as lower fuel prices will partially offset other domestic cost factors.
On Friday, the Department of Statistics released the Malaysian exports data for January 2015. Exports fell 0.6 per cent compared to a year ago due to the decrease in exports to China, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Imports fell by 5.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis, mainly attributable to the decrease in the imports of intermediate goods.
Top 10 most active bonds:
The turnover of the top 10 most active bonds shrunk about 31.7 per cent to RM10.24 billion, compared to RM15 billion last week. Strong interest was seen for the recently issued five-year benchmark GII, which had recorded the highest trade volume of RM2.66 billion.
New bond(s):
On March 5, 2015, Cagamas Bhd issued two tranches of bonds with a total issuance size of RM80 million. These two Cagamas bonds have a tenure of one year and three years and carry a coupon rate of 3.8 and 4.02 per cent respectively. The bonds are rated AAA by RAM Ratings and MARC with a stable outlook.
On March 6, 2015, AmIslamic Bank Bhd issued a 2.5-year and a 5-year sukuk with an issuance size of RM300 million and RM900 million respectively. Both sukuk are rated AA2 with a stable outlook by RAM Ratings and carry a profit rate of 4.25 and 4.45 per cent respectively.