Solid week for EM; Turkey, Zambia outperform; El Salvador, Ghana underperform; DIB picks banks

By Christine Van Dusen

Atlanta, Feb. 3 – Emerging markets assets finished the week on strong footing, even amid concerns about the global political picture, with Turkey and Zambia standing out as outperformers.

“Sentiment in EM remains solid with Trump now two weeks in office,” a London-based analyst said. “Without doubt, political uncertainty remains a key risk in the weeks ahead.”

Overall, spreads tightened for emerging markets credit, with Zambia a “stellar outperformer” after inviting the International Monetary Fund for program talks. The sovereign’s 2024s tightened by about 50 basis points over the week.

El Salvador was an underperformer as a result of political concerns. And Ghana remained volatile after findings of undisclosed fiscal spending.

Turkey “continued its relief rally,” the analyst said, noting that the sovereign’s 2026s tightened 15 bps.

Looking to the primary market, activity is expected to pick up next week as many Asian investors return from the Lunar New Year holidays.

Nigeria and Tunisia are rumored to be considering deals, denominated in dollars and euros, respectively.

And the Province of Buenos Aires is said to be preparing for a roadshow to market a dollar deal.

In other deal-related news, Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC has mandated Bank ABC, Boubyan Bank, Emirates NBD, HSBC, Maybank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered as bookrunners for a dollar-denominated issue of Islamic bonds, a market source said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.