Daily Market Monitor: The rouble bond market emained muted on Friday

The Facing uncertainty in both interest and exchange rate dynamics,
the rouble bond market remained muted on Friday — although
high rouble liquidity acted to support Russian papers. With these
factors likely to remain in play all week, the primary market should
offer the most opportunities to investors.
Several auctions are scheduled this week – PIT investment is to place
its second bond issue for Rub 1.5 bln on Monday, while three issues –
Incom-finance (Rub 1.5 bln), TMK-2 (Rub 3 bln) and Salavatsteclo (Rub
750 mln) are scheduled for Tuesday. However, significant supply in
the coming month (Moscow city plans to place Rub 6 bln on April 6,
while the Moscow region plans a Rub 12 bln issue a day before)
could bring risk for the primary market as well.
Meanwhile, Vneshtorgbank executed a put option on its VTB-4 bond.
According to the company, Rub 3 bln of Rub 5 bln was bought back
as investors considered the proposed rate for its next coupon of 5.6%
as too low in the current environment.

The Russian Eurobond market saw little change on Friday due to
the public holiday on Western markets — and Monday is likely to
remain muted. We expect local activity to recover tomorrow, on the
heels of the market’s Western peers as Russian Eurobonds are likely to
continue to follow U.S. Treasury dynamics. We see the latter following
Thursday’s statistics on U.S. jobless claims, personal income and
factory orders.