Market News

Eurobond Yields Climb To A Four-Month High As ‘New Financing Order’ Campaigns Worry Markets

BY Standard Investment Bank · September 25, 2023 09:09 am

Liquidity conditions reversed the previous week’s posture, as the cost of funds in the money market notched higher to an average of 12.17%, from 12.10% recorded the previous week.

The performance followed an increase in settlements that offset government receipts. Consequently, the average traded volumes fell 8.57% to KES 24.03bn from KES 26.28bn a week earlier.

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The Central Bank injected KES 70.22bn worth of liquidity through a triple 7-day reverse repo purchase at an average rate of 14.0%.

See a summary of the offering below;

Reflecting the tightened liquidity, Treasury bills were undersubscribed with the overall subscription coming in at 84.07%, down from 92.11% the previous week.

Investors bid KES 20.18bn, with 79.6% of the bids geared towards the 91-day paper which recorded a 401.67% subscription, down from 450.01% recorded in the previous week.

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The subscription rate for the 182-day and 364-day papers came in at 15.83% and 25.27%, respectively – the market-weighted average rate for the 364-day paper declined to 16.13%, from 17.19%, but remained way higher than the rate of accepted bids.

Bond turnover in the domestic secondary market declined 34.90% during the week ending 21st September, reversing the previous week’s gains.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank issued a tap sale on the September bonds, seeking to raise KES 15.0bn. The papers have an effective tenor of 1.9 years and 2.9 years, for FXD1/2023/02 and FXD1/2016/10, respectively and the period of sale runs up to 28th September 2023.

The bond coupon rate is 15.0% and 17.0% for FXD1/2016/10 and FXD1/2023/02, and the yields stand at 17.93% and 17.45%, respectively. See below a summary of the offer;

In other news, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) approved the issuance of Kenya’s first-ever Sukuk Bond – an Islamic bond instrument that complies with Shari’ah principles.

The bond will be issued by Linzi Finco Trust in a bid to raise KES 3.0bn for the construction of 3,069 housing units in line with the government’s affordable housing agenda.

The bond is set to offer investors an internal rate of return of 11.13% and is expected to be asset-backed as is the nature of Islamic financial instruments.

On interest rates, the weighted average rates for the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day papers increased by 27.15bp, 52.51bp, and 49.32bp to 14.79%, 14.94%, and 15.22%, respectively – cumulatively, the rates have increased by 541.76bp, 574.39bp, and 585.44bp since the year began. See below the performance of the yields on the government papers;

Also during the week, yields on all Eurobonds increased, with KENINT 2024 expected to mature in June 2024 jumping to an eighteen-week high.

We suspect the surge was caused by investors’ reaction to Kenya’s President’s comments about having a new financing order for Africa that involves green financing and a moratorium.

The President also criticized the work of credit rating agencies when a plan by the government to buy back its Eurobond was construed as a default by Moody’s.

See below a summary of the performance;