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During an investor day on Thursday, Nomura said it will scale back some secondary trading operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as it seeks to adapt to global challenges in the wholesale sector and the region’s slower growth.

The Arab Republic of Egypt has released initial price guidance for its dual tranche euro bond at levels that two lead managers said were around 40bp back of its curve.

Indications of interest for Saudi Aramco’s bond are understood to have hit over $15bn, with the roadshow not finishing until Monday April 8.

Spain’s Acciona has signed a €675m environmental, social and governance-linked loan. Lenders piled into the infrastructure and renewable energy group's deal after launch, enabling the size to grow by 35%.

The Covered Bond Directive provides a basis for harmonisation of the European covered bond market and sets a standard for other countries to follow suit. But following approval of the final text this week, market participants expect the new law will give member states plenty of leeway to interpret the rules.

Four new corporate bonds hit the market on Wednesday. In a change from recent days, all the deals were of moderate size and single tranched. Terna, the Italian grid operator, and Banque PSA France were typical in launching €500m no-grow deals. Book sizes diverged strongly, with those two issuers getting heavy oversubscription, while Aroundtown and Voestalpine had much less.

Citi and KBC Group led the way on Wednesday in what was a very busy day for new bond supply from financial institutions, with issuers taking advantage of stellar market conditions to raise funding ahead of reporting their first quarter earnings.

First Abu Dhabi Bank printed a rare three year floating rate note on Tuesday inside its fixed rate curve. Investors flocked to the deal as a “risk-free” way to park cash, according to a syndicate official on the deal.

ECM investors continue to support Russian deals and flooded into a Rub5.8bn ($89m) block in LSR Group, the Russian real estate development company, in what was the latest sell-down by one of the country’s oligarchs.

The National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah came to market for $500m on Tuesday, managing to slice 25bp from initial price thoughts to the final spread.

Toronto–Dominion Bank’s (TD) €1.75bn five year covered bond, which was issued on Wednesday, was priced 13bp tighter than where it might have launched in January when five other Canadian borrowers entered the market with similar deals.

Equity investors are being especially careful about pricing as they put in orders for the first wave of European IPOs in 2019. What has alarmed them particularly is the the see-sawing performance of Lyft, the US taxi company that floated for $2.2bn last week.