Finance Ministry Attracts UAH 503 mln At Fourth Bond Auction

The Finance Ministry of Ukraine announced that it had sold local bonds worth a total of UAH 503 mln (USD 99.6 mln) at its local bond auction Monday. It placed 1.5 year notes at a weighted average yield of 6.76% and three-year notes at 6.6%. Investors once again spurned the government’s longer-term securities with five, seven and ten-year tenors, which had low stop-yields. Oleksandr Klymchuk: The weighted average yield of 1.5 year bonds has continued to decline, this time it fell by another 12 bps, and the yield of three year bonds remained unchanged. High local liquidity and expectation of hryvnya revaluation in the mid-term has fueled demand. Having held just four auctions, the government has attracted 53% of its yearend target. This supports our expectation that the government will meet its 2007 target soon and the number of the bond offerings will to be limited this year.