Yield premiums on the region’s high-grade dollar bonds have ticked up in the last month, but are still near their historically-low levels. This week’s activities underscore borrowers’ reluctance to wait to issue new bonds, given the recent trend of premiums heading back up.
Asia-Pacific companies and governments’ sales of dollar bonds in the primary market hit a nine-month high this week, as issuers look to lock in historically tight spreads before they climb further.
The South Korean government and other issuers sold more than US$5.5 billion ($7.46 billion) of notes on Wednesday, pushing the week’s tally close to US$14 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That is already the most for any week since September of last year, the data show.
