Malaysia’s bond market sees continuous expansion in Q1

The amount of negative-yielding bonds globally have jumped 47% to more than $12 trillion this year as signs that the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will ease spurred a bond rally.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is among the emerging East Asian economies that saw the local currency bond market continue to expand over the first quarter of 2019, despite trade conflicts and moderating global growth, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In its latest issue of the Asia Bond Monitor – June 2019 quarterly report, the ADB said the outstanding amount of Malaysia’s local currency bonds totalled US$353bil at end-March 2019, registering a 7.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth from the first quarter 2018.