MEXICO CITY, March 31 (Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N) said on Wednesday that Mexican peso-denominated debt could enter its World Government Bond Index, or WGBI, in October and become the first Latin American country in the closely watched index.
Mexico's eligibility for the index, a move markets had been anticipating in recent weeks, could spur greater flows into Mexican bonds since the WGBI is used as a benchmark by major funds. Mexico's peso MXN=MEX01 jumped on the news to its strongest level in more than 17 months. For more see [ID:nN31219309].
The news was a welcome boost for Mexico, Latin America's No. 2 economy after Brazil, after being hit last year by downgrades by two ratings agencies to its sovereign debt.
Citigroup said an index of Mexico's peso-denominated government debt had satisfied criteria for inclusion and would be placed under further scrutiny in the coming months.
"If Mexico continues to meet all WGBI criteria for three consecutive months starting with the April 2010 index profile, it will become the first Latin American and the 24th government bond market to enter the WGBI. Entry would be effective October 2010," Citi said in a statement.
Mexico began issuing larger amounts of new bonds this quarter through sales by syndicates of banks as a way to try to meet Citi's criteria for inclusion in the index.
No comments:
Post a Comment