Gov't sells US$1.15b bonds in February
The Government raised more than VND24.5 trillion (US$1.15 billion) from bonds on the primary market in February, a drop of 12.2% from January, the Hanoi Stock Exchange reported.
In the 16 auctions held on the northern bourse last month, the State Treasury offloaded bonds worth almost VND23 trillion (US$1.07 billion) and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies sold bonds worth VND1.6 trillion (US$75 million).
According to the exchange, five-year bonds garnered the most attention in terms of bids and calls, accounting for 62.5% of the bonds sold last month.
Coupon rates declined in all types of bonds. Three-year bonds were sold at coupon rates between 5.1%-5.24% annually, down 0.33% from January.
The interest rates paid on five-year bonds also decreased by 0.67% from the previous month, selling between 5.29%-5.95% annually. The coupon rates of 10-year bonds were 6.48%-6.5% annually, down 0.02%, and 15-year bonds were 7.5%-7.59% annually, down 0.41%.
In the secondary market, the total volume of outright trading in February amounted to 318.5 million bonds, worth VND34.1 trillion (US$1.6 billion), of which sales of Government-backed bonds accounted for VND2.3 trillion (US$107.5 million).
The trading volume by repurchase agreements (repos) was 92.3 million bonds, equivalent to the value of VND9.3 trillion (US$434.6 million). Repos of Government-backed bonds constituted VND2.2 trillion (US$102.8 million) of the total.
Foreign investors focused their activity to outright trading with their buy value amounting to VND7.71 trillion (US$360.3 million) while the repos sales were just VND340 billion (US$15.9 million).
According to the Hanoi exchange, total sales of Government bonds for 2015 have so far reached VND44.323 trillion (US$2.07 billion), of which the State Treasury of Vietnam raised VND40.37 trillion (US$1.9 billion) and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies sold bonds worth VND3.953 trillion (US$185.5 million).