S$ bond issues hit S$3b in March

Singapore STRONG demand for Singapore dollar bonds has pushed issuances in March to S$3 billion, 20 per cent higher than in the same month last year even as unease grows among bond investors on how long the debt rally will last.

The Markit iBoxx SGD corporate total return index is up 1.14 per cent year-to-date to 112.23 on Tuesday, close to its all time high of 112.26 on March 17. The S$3 billion was raised from 23 issues; in March 2014, there were 17 issues worth S$2.5 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

Year-to-date issuance though is still down in value terms compared to the same period last year. For the first quarter of 2015, there were 44 deals worth S$4.78 billion versus 41 issues worth S$6.63 billion for Q1 2014.