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The Republic of the Philippines struggled to become the first Asian sovereign to launch a seven year benchmark in euros when it priced a Eu300m transaction yesterday (Thursday). A combination of investor concerns about possible military action against Iraq and market volatility in Asian bond markets after Korea's A3 rating was assigned a negative outlook by Moody's conspired to push out spreads on the republic's dollar bonds by 15bp this week.

Sinotrans' offer was priced on Monday at HK$2.19 per share - above even the most optimistic expectations of last week. China's latest privatisation and the largest IPO in the world this year raised HK$3.4bn before the virtually automatic greenshoe exercise that will raise another HK$510m.

Hutchison Whampoa this week made a lightning return to the dollar bond market with a $1.5bn 10 year issue executed in 15 hours. But while the speed of execution was breathtaking, rival bankers claimed the bond fell foul of market volatility and that the borrower had to pay up to get it away.

The Government Housing Loan Corp (GHLC), Japan's largest residential mortgage lender, last week launched a ¥150bn domestic securitisation of residential mortgages via bookrunner Goldman Sachs and joint leads Daiwa Securities SMBC and Mizuho Securities. The single bond, rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's and local agency Rating & Investment Information, was priced at 59bp over 0.8% 20/12/2013 JGB. The notes have a legal maturity in February 2038. The bonds were sold to life insurance companies and small banks.

China Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan this week said China's GDP grew by 8% in 2002. The figure was in line with preliminary estimates.

Snowy Hydro launched its keenly awaited A$500m three tranche deal yesterday (Thursday), with bankers hoping that it will finally open the floodgates for primary market issuance after a disappointingly quiet January. The hydroelectricity generator is to issue fixed and floating rate notes with seven and 10 year tenors, which are wrapped by XL Capital Assurance to give an AAA rating.

TradeWeb, the internet trading platform for fixed income instruments, added EuroCP to the platform on February 3 and nearly Eu1bn of EuroCP has been traded since launch. "We are pleased with how the first week of trading has gone, but we are realistic that we have a long way to go," said Lee Olesky, president of TradeWeb Group and chief executive of TradeWeb Europe. "All the feedback we have received on the buyside has been positive and the leading dealers are all anxious to support us. While I try not to make predictions, the first week has been very much in line with our expectations."

Rating: AA- Amount: Sfr150m

Deutsche Bank woke up Europe’s dormant equity capital markets on Tuesday with an innovative $1.06bn exchangeable into e-commerce company USA Interactive, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal.

Deutsche Bank woke up Europe’s dormant equity capital markets on Tuesday with an innovative $1.06bn exchangeable into e-commerce company USA Interactive, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal.

Fears over war with Iraq and limited funding needs will result in little new corporate bond supply in the coming weeks. However, those still waiting to tap the market include EADS, Deutsche Telekom and Parmalat. Parmalat plans to issue a Eu500m 30 year bond with a seven year put at 375bp over mid-swaps. The issue would mark the first use of this structure in the European corporate market. Abaxbank, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and UBM have been associated with the deal, but no mandate has been officially announced.

Sovereign/supranational borrowers dominated the market this week as investors focused on safe haven product. Italy is reportedly keen to take advantage of investor enthusiasm for sovereign risk and is roadshowing in the US via Merrill Lynch. Bankers are expecting a new global bond for the republic which will have something out of the ordinary either in terms of maturity or structure.