Euro focus falls on Portugal but Ontario and CoE succeed in dollars

Primary issuance in the SSA market so far this week has been confined to the dollar market. News of Portugal’s agreement with the EU and IMF on a three year Eu78bn bail-out package took some uncertainty out of the peripheral sovereign market, but the ECB meeting on Thursday and US non-farm payroll data on Friday have shut the euro benchmark market down. Indeed, while secondary flows are encouraging, little euro supply is anticipated this week. Only taps or short-dated opportunistic deals are possible, say bankers.