Investors are also buying protection on China sovereigns on concerns the tightening measures could hurt stocks in the region as Beijing reins in surplus liquidity in the system. The Asia ex-Japan iTraxx investment-grade index widened 2 basis points (bps) to 97. The index is now off a 20-month low of 84/88 bps struck last Tuesday.
Issues from Vietnam, which is conducting roadshows, and from corporates such as PT Cikarang Listrindo and Evergrande Real Estate are expected to provide a gauge of investor appetite for risky assets after borrowers raised a record amount in 2009.
But bonds from the Philippines outperformed the market after Manila said it will auction around 500 million dollars of Samurai bonds in the third week of February. "Now that they have put a time table on the samurai issuance it would be a positive," said a Manila based trader. "Philippines needs to raise another $1 billion this year and this takes $500 million out of the supply pipeline," he said. The 2032 and the newly sold 2020 rose by a quarter of a point. The 2020 was dealt at 106.50 cents on the dollar, while the 2032 was traded at 95.75.