Investors were shifting funds from the local bourse to the bond market given the uncertainties in equity securities amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“The blood bath in equities and commodity market, which continued until mid-March, has investors turning to local bonds for safety and best returns,” a report by First Metro Investment Corp. and University of Asia and the Pacific said.
The study titled “The Market Call” noted there has been an uptick in trading volume for secondary government securities, registering at P720.7 billion in February, which is 34-percent higher than P538 billion the previous month. Trading turnover last month skyrocketed by 230.1 percent year-on-year.
Corporate bonds market, meanwhile, booked record volume of P6.9 billion last month, which is 22-percent better than P5.6 billion in January. Year-on-year, it rose by 195.9 percent.
Earlier, Philippine Savings Bank and BDO Unibank Inc. listed their fixed rate bonds amounting P4.65 billion and P40.1 billion, respectively, on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.
East West Banking Corp. issued last month its 3-year fixed rate bonds worth P3.7 billion, which came from the bank’s P10-billion bond program.
Ayala Land Inc. earned P10 billion from the issuance of its retail bonds last month, the proceeds of which are allocated to finance maturing loans and general corporate matters.
Just last week, the Bank of the Philippine Islands raised P33.9 billion—surpassing the initial target size of P5 billion by over six-fold—from bond issuance. Each bond carries interest rate of 4.05 percent per annum and has a tenor of 1.5 years.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. also announced last week that its P3-billion bond issuance was subscribed by over two times after three-day offer period.
Meanwhile, BDO decided to delay its P5-billion fixed rate bonds issuance due to the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The bank has not yet disclosed when it will push through with the offering.
On Friday, the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) fell by 2.50 percent or 134.96 points to settle at 5,266.62 from previous trading day. The wider All-shares, meanwhile, shed 0.96 percent or 31.32 points to close at 3,219.50.
The PSEi has wiped off 2,475.91 points since the first day of trading of this year, falling by nearly 32 percent year-to-date.
For this week brokerage firm 2TradeAsia pegged the immediate support at 4,800-5,000 range and resistance at 5,500 to 5,900 level.