Approximately $70 million of Nextel's bank debt traded last week up from 80 to 82 5/8 as higher reported operational cash flow and revenue for the company's domestic market helped boost the name. The term loans "B" and "C" sold last Thursday in two pieces of $2 million and five pieces of $2.5 million in the morning and a $5 million piece traded midday at 82 1/8. By the end of the day, market players said they believed that $40 million of the name traded in the retail sector at 81 1/2. Buyers and sellers could not be determined. Nextel has gained ground from earlier in the week when $10 million of the paper was auctioned off at 80, according to traders. By midweek the name had been offered in the 79 1/2 to 81 range.
Traders were skittish on the name earlier in the week after some of the telecom sector's larger players had been closed off from the commercial paper markets, explained dealers. "Institutional players were unloading it," one said. As one of the market's most liquid names, levels have fluctuated over the last month. Nextel traded down to 88 from 89 1/4 to 90 1/2 in the first week of February, but ended the week at 89 1/4 with $7.5 million in trades (LMW 2/4). A company spokesman declined