Lebanese Eurobonds Market Up After the Eid Holidays

After the Eid Holidays, the Lebanese Eurobonds market, tracked by the BLOM Bond Index (BBI) witnessed an improvement. The gauge rose by 0.45% to 103.39 points, pulled up by higher demand for medium and long term Lebanese Eurobonds.

However, the BBI was still unable to outperform the JP Morgan Emerging Markets’ Bond Index which gained a weekly 1.93% to 758.18 points.

Demand for Lebanese Eurobonds maturing in 5 years and 10 years increased over the past week with their yields declining from 6.31% and 6.94% to 6.18% and 6.85%, respectively.

Meanwhile in the US, and over the same period, the yields on the US treasuries maturing in 5 years and 10 years increased from 1.01% and 1.49% to 1.1% and 1.53%, respectively. Investors turned away from safe-haven assets on account of a strong jobs report in the US, showing that the economy added 287,000 jobs during the month.

Therefore, the spread between the yields on the 5Y and 10Y Lebanese Eurobonds and their US comparable narrowed from 530 bps and 545 bps to 508 bps and 532 bps, respectively.  

5 Year Credit Default Swaps, Mid-Prices (in basis points)