Foreign buyers snapped up Egyptian 5-year bonds in auction

Foreign investors bought all of the five-year Egyptian treasury bonds auctioned on Monday, the country’s Finance Ministry said on Tuesday in a sign of renewed emerging market debt appetite.

Egypt’s central bank sold 1.16 billion Egyptian pounds ($66 million) in five-year bonds at an average yield of 17.59 percent, down from a yield of 18.03 at the last similar auction.

The Egyptian pound stabilised on Tuesday, trading at an average price of 17.68 to the dollar, after two days of consecutive appreciation that pushed it to a nine-month high.

“The rise in foreign investments in government debt certainly contributed to the pound strengthening, but there are also better global sentiments at large and confidence in the Egyptian balance of payments situation,” Allen Sandeep, Naeem Brokerage head of research, told Reuters.

Foreign investors bought around 30 percent of treasury bills and around 55 percent of five- and ten-year bonds auctioned this week, the finance ministry said.

“With the Egyptian pound’s appreciation also coinciding with a sizable drop in treasury yields- due to increased carry trade appetite – the same is likely to have resulted from increased foreign currency inflows into banks,” Sandeep said.

Yields in Egyptian five-year bonds had declined at every auction since mid-December. Average yields on bonds of other tenors were mixed.

Source: Reuters