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Index product has proliferated in the European high yield market over the past 12-18 months. Almost every investment bank wants a high yield index, it seems - not least for use as an origination tool. One provider stands out according to investors - Merrill Lynch - but others are fighting back.

The requirement to assess hedge effectiveness in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's new statement on derivatives accounting, Statement 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, is critical for qualifying for special hedge accounting.

The dual listing of Jitong Communications on Nasdaq and on the Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market is in premarketing and bankers expect to launch the deal imminently. Joint lead managers Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Lehman Brothers are selling 71,994,000 shares either as 'H' shares or as American Depository Receipts (ADRs).

China BP Amoco is in discussions to invest about $200m in China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) as a precursor to the planned IPO of CNOOC, set for February next year. The investment would follow a purchase by Royal Dutch Shell, of between $200m and $400m of CNOOC shares as part of the IPO.

Unconfirmed newspaper reports appeared in Australia this week indicating that Foster's Brewing Group may move its A$700m hotel assets off balance sheet. If the deal takes place, bankers in Sydney believe the transaction will be through a listed property trust structure, although they have not discounted the possibility of an asset backed securities transaction.

The planned $3.5bn NYSE listing and American Depository Receipt (ADR) issue for Chunghwa Telecom has been greeted with market scepticism. "We are amazed the Taiwan government wants to proceed with a deal of this size when the market has been so weak and when the whole investment community is winding down for the year end," said a syndicate head in Hong Kong. "The whole float exercise to date has been a failure and an offer of this size at this time would be a Herculean task." The Taiwan government is under intense pressure at home and also from mainland China. Many believe the government will not last many more months as the pressure builds to restore political stability. The government appears adamant that it wants to secure roughly $3.5bn this year, rather than wait until 2001.

Monumental Global Funding was the major interest in the domestic Australian debt market this week, launching and then enlarging its debut Kangaroo bond. The issue proves the continuing appetite for foreign corporate names by the domestic investor base.

Abbey National's merger approach to the Bank of Scotland (BoS) last week has rekindled takeover speculation in the UK banking sector and underlined the positive event risk that accompanies borrowers from the sector. Last Friday (November 3), the Bank of Scotland (Aa3/A+/AA) issued a terse statement confirming that Abbey National (Aa2/AA/ AA) had contacted it with a view to reopening merger talks.

Altitude Software, a Portuguese based software firm, which was due to list on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange on Wednesday, has extended the order taking period, reduced the number of shares on offer and lowered the price from Eu15-Eu19 to Eu12. The company had to extend the offering period for regulatory reasons. "Because we did not have advertisements in the newspapers long enough to comply with regulations, we had to extend the offering period," said a banker involved in the sale.

Spreads on the bonds of Invensys, the controls and automation group, look set to recover after several weeks of turmoil following the company's acquisition of Baan and subsequent profits warning in September. Speculation over a bid for the company and news that the company may spin-off its power systems division more recently had caused further uncertainty, but Invensys maintains that investors' fears are overplayed.

Brazil's planned Samurai bond remains on track for issuance this month as Japanese retail investors continue to scramble for high yielding emerging market bonds, despite the turmoil Argentina's problems are causing in the dollar and euro denominated emerging markets. "The bond issue in Japan should come out by the end of the month," said Daniel Gleizer, the Brazilian central bank director of international affairs.