The Thomson Reuters BPAM All Bond Index saw an increase of 0.167 per cent to 162.190 points from 161.919 points last Friday amid strong demand for MGS papers.
The Malaysian ringgit strengthened against the greenback to close at 4.1790 from 4.1855 last week.
On December 19, 2018, Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased slightly by 0.2 per cent in November 2018 on a year-on-year basis.
The slight gain was due to growth in food & non-alcoholic beverages (1.1 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (two per cent), alcoholic beverages & tobacco (one per cent), restaurants & hotels (1.2 per cent) and education (1.4 per cent).
BNM has updated the auction calendar for the year of 2019.
Gross supply of govvies is expected to increase albeit there will be 32 auctions in 2019 as compared to 33 auctions in 2018.
However, the higher supply of government bonds will be cushioned by private placements, in which the subscribers will be identified by the Ministry of Finance.
In the US, the Fed hiked the interest rates for the fourth time this year by 25 basis points in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on December 19.
The committee affirmed that future rate hikes will be dependent on the global economic and financial developments.
The projection of rate hikes in 2019 has lowered to two times from the last projection of three hikes, and the Fed has revised downward economic growth forecasts in the US for 2019.
The US Treasuries saw gains across the board this week, with the two-year and 10-year Treasury stood at 2.67 and 2.79 per cent, lowered by six and 10 basis points respectively from last Friday.
The top 10 most active bonds increased to RM6.3 billion from RM3.7 billion last week.
Interests were seen in shorter tenure bonds maturing in 2019 and 2020, along with the three-year and 10-year GII benchmark.
On December 17, Berjaya Land Bhd issued a one-year Medium Term Notes (MTN) guaranteed by Danajamin with issuance size of RM125 million.
The MTN carries a coupon rate of 4.55 per cent.
The issue is rated AAA(FG) with stable outlook by MARC.
On 20 December 2018, Al-’Aqar Capital Sdn Bhd issued 4.5-non-call-2.5-year Islamic Medium Term Notes (IMTNs) for both Class A and Class B Sukuk Ijarah, with total issuance size of RM112 million.
The IMTNs bear profit rates of 4.68 and 4.98 per cent, and are rated AAA and AA2 respectively with stable outlook by RAM Ratings.
Cagamas Bhd issued one tranche of one-year MTN and IMTN with a combined issue size of RM1.2 billion.
The MTN with four per cent coupon rate is rated AAA with stable outlook by RAM Ratings and MARC, and the IMTN with four per cent profit rate is rated AAA by RAM Ratings and AAAIS by MARC with stable outlook.
Sabah Credit Corporation issued a two-year IMTN with an issuance size of RM150 million with profit rate set at 4.41 per cent.
The IMTN is rated AA1 with stable outlook by RAM Ratings.
On December 21, Dynasty Harmony Sdn Bhd issued 10 tranches of IMTNs with a combined issue size of RM165 million.
The IMTNs carry profit rates ranging from 6.20 to 6.65 per cent, with tenures ranging from 10 years to 14.5 years, and are rated AA3 with stable outlook by RAM Ratings.