Egypt Exceeds Bond Sale Target

Egypt exceeded its treasury-bond sale target at an auction on Monday as the president ordered the retirement of two top military generals and after the cancellation of a debt sale on Sunday. Dollar bonds rose.

The government raised E£5.1 billion ($840 million) from the sale of three-, five- and 10-year notes, or E£100 million more than it sought, according to central bank data on Bloomberg. The average yield on three-year notes rose three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 16.18 percent from the previous auction. The five- and 10-year yields advanced two basis points and one basis point, respectively, to 16.58 per cent and 17.03 per cent.

President Mohamed Mursi moved to consolidate power by ordering Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and his deputy Lieutenant General Sami Enan to retire.

The country on Sunday cancelled the sale of nine-month treasury bills after Qatar agreed to deposit $2 billion with Egypt’s central bank. The average yield on the notes had jumped six basis points at an auction last week, its first gain in six sales, to 15.71 per cent.

The yield on Egypt’s 5.75 percent dollar-denominated bonds due in April 2020 fell for the second time in three days, losing four basis points to 6.17 per cent at in afternoon Cairo trading, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg. That’s near the lowest level since November. The pound, subject to a managed float, strengthened 0.2 per cent to 6.0748 a dollar.

Khaleejtimes