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Orient Corp (Orico), one of the largest consumer credit companies in Japan, this week launched its second securitisation of card loans under its Clare programme. A single dollar tranche was offered in response to the strong demand on this currency in the previous deal in December. "The main reason for this transaction was follow-through demand on the dollar notes from the last deal that we couldn't satisfy at the time," said Richard Tarn, director of primary and structured finance at lead manager Mizuho International in London. "Orico returned to the market earlier than expected to respond."

The Australian debt market continues to show robust demand for primary issuance, supporting another spate of transactions. New Zealand's Meridian Energy, General Property Trust (GPT), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Pacific Life have all accessed the domestic market for new deals over the past week. Meridian Energy launched its debut A$100m 10 year medium term note (MTN) last Friday to strong demand. JP Morgan acted as sole lead for the electricity generator's debut issue, which was credit wrapped by XL Capital Assurance to provide an effective AAA rating.

CNOOC took the markets by storm this week, securing a full-to-bursting order book for its debut $500m global bond. The Chinese oil and exploration corporate's 144A Reg S deal is scheduled to be priced early in New York today (Friday).

Indonesia PT Medco Energi ended a roadshow in Europe yesterday (Thursday) for its $150m five year Eurobond issue. Credit Suisse First Boston is sole lead manager for the Indonesian oil and exploration company, which is rated B+ by Standard & Poor's, four notches higher than the sovereign.

The pipeline from Malaysia is swelling rapidly, with both the federation and Malayan Banking (Maybank) looking at opportunities in the international bond markets. The sovereign is considering how best to raise $500m, and observers believe the ministry of finance (MoF) is close to picking lead managers.

Lehman Brothers has completed a $100m convertible bond issue for recordable compact disc manufacturer CMC Magnetics Corp. The deal, for which there is also a $20m greenshoe option, was more than twice covered, according to bankers close to the transaction. Lehman and the issuer opted for a two year put structure with a zero coupon.

EuroWeek has conducted a straw poll of Asia bond market bankers and analysts at eight investment banks, to discover their views on where the markets are headed in the coming year. Here are the results. Where do you believe overall spreads for Asian high grade bonds and high yield bonds will move in the next six months?

* Fortis Finance NV Guarantor: Fortis (NL) NV, Fortis Bank NV

Japanese wireless telco NTT DoCoMo is in advanced preparations to launch its debut Eurobond issue next week. Bankers expect the corporate to issue a $500m deal with a tenor of three or five years. Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg are the bookrunners. The corporate is embarking on a small European roadshow early next week, aiming to stop in London and Zurich over Monday and Tuesday, with the deal likely to be launch on Wednesday or Thursday. The deal will be the first off NTT's newly established $10bn EuroMTN programme.

The 47th Barclays Equity-Gilt Study has highlighted strong future demand for bonds, and corporate bonds in particular, as UK pension funds continue to move out of equities and into fixed income. The study compares the returns of different asset classes over periods of between one year and more than 100 years. It presents the merits of having invested in corporate bonds, which recorded a real return of 6.0% in 2001, outperforming equities (-13.8%), cash (4.8%) and Gilts (0.6%). Over 10 years, the study notes with surprise, the average annual real return from corporate bonds exceeded that for equities by 1.0%.

Prudential Banking, the financial arm of Prudential (also known as Egg), has signed a $5 billion global CP facility. Deutsche Bank is the arranger. The programme will work alongside its £

US corporates raced back into the high grade dollar bond market this week, eager to take advantage of an increasingly discerning investor base that appears to be overcoming the paranoia inspired by Enron. "The market overall feels about as good as it has felt at any time in the last couple of months," said Jim Merli, managing director and global head of fixed income syndicate at Lehman Brothers. "Deals are working, cash is being put to work, spreads feel like they are performing. A few weeks ago it felt like the end of the world. Now it seems like things have taken a decided turn for the better."