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Most equity markets receded in February after first battling
intensifying Federal Reserve rate hiking expectations and then
having to absorb the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile,
implied volatility advanced and commodities prices surged.
World bond yields rose for much of the month but then stabilized
towards the end of the month after the military escalation in
Eastern Europe.
On the Covid-19 front, waves in the US, the UK and in Europe
subsided, having peaked in January. However, many Asian countries
still endured rising rates of confirmed cases through February. In
Singapore, confirmed cases approximately doubled over the
month.
Over February, the iBoxx SGD Overall index fell -0.60%. Both the
Government and Non-Sovereigns segments suffered losses of around
the same order. Most rating-by-maturity buckets were in the red
this month, with A rated bonds hurt the most (particularly at the
medium to long-end of the curve).
The AA/3-5yr bucket was the only investment grade portion of the
index that made a gain, though it comprises only one bond (issued
by IVLSP, a corporate in the Chemical sector). The High Yield index
also made a gain this month, spurred by the rebound on OLAM's 4%
2026 bond (a top performer this month and a bottom performer the
previous month).
The overall index closed the month offering a yield of 2.23%
with a duration of 7.07 years.
March 2022 Rebalance
This rebalance, S$350 million of new notional was inserted into
the iBoxx SGD Overall index via a new five year BNP bond (a
callable, Tier 2, subordinated bond).
Three bonds left the index this rebalance including a 10-yard
Singapore Government Bond. All departing bonds left the index due
to their respective expected remaining lives falling below one
year.
No rating changes were observed at the March rebalance.
Posted 03 March 2022 by Rahul Sharma, Director - Indices, IHS Markit
IHS Markit provides industry-leading data, software and technology platforms and managed services to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in financial markets. We help our customers better understand complicated markets, reduce risk, operate more efficiently and comply with financial regulation.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
