Strong investor appetite for PIF’s first debt sale in 2024: Saudi Arabia’s PublicInvestment Fund took a USD 5 bn senior unsecured bond issuance to market yesterday, Bloomberg reported.

The offering was 5x oversubscribed, with bankers taking orders worth USD 27 bn, an unnamed source told the business information service.

It’s just the latest addition of debt to PIF’s war chest: The fund closed in October a USD 3.5bn global sukuk issuance, two green bond offerings totaling USD 8.5 bn between 2022 and 2023, and lined up a USD 17 bn corporate facility in 2022.

This is following in the footsteps of Mexico, Indonesia, and Poland, among others, who haveraised significant debt of late as countries look to take advantage of favorable market conditions driven mainly by an ongoing drop in US yields since October.

ALSO WORTH MENTIONING-

China supports yuan as stock market plummets: Major state-owned banks in China propped up the yuan on Monday by tightening offshore yuan liquidity and selling greenbacks onshore after the benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell by 2.7% — its biggest one-day drop since April 2022. (Reuters)

EGX30

28,050

+1.2% (YTD: +12.7%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.83

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

19.25% deposit

20.25% lending

Tadawul

12,110

+0.9% (YTD: +1.2%)

ADX

9,680

-0.3% (YTD: +1.1%)

DFM

4,081

0.0% (YTD: +0.5%)

S&P 500

4,850

+0.2% (YTD: +1.7%)

FTSE 100

7,488

+0.3% (YTD: -3.2%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,480

+0.7% (YTD: -0.9%)

Brent crude

USD 79.89

+1.7%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.42

-4.0%

Gold

USD 2,042.00

-0.3%

BTC

USD 39,824.64

-4.6% (YTD: -5.2%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.2% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 8.5 bn (175.1% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net buyers. The index is up 12.7% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+10.1%), Beltone Holding (+6.8%) and Talaat Moustafa Group (+4.4%).

In the red: B Investments (-3.7%), Ezz Steel (-3.2%) and Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling (-2.6%).

Asian markets are flirting with the green in early trading this morning. Futures suggest shares on Wall Street and in Europe will follow suit later today.

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