In Brief: 95 Trading Held Up in Emerging Market Debt

Last year's Mexican currency crisis had little effect on trading volume in emerging markets debt instruments.

Trading in such instruments worldwide totaled $2.74 trillion, just shy of the $2.76 trillion in 1994, according to an annual survey by the Emerging Markets Traders Association.

"Despite some predictions of large-scale declines early in the year following the devaluation of the Mexican peso, trading in the emerging markets debt market nearly matched 1994's record level," said Michael M. Chamberlin, EMTA's executive director. "The survey's results reflect the wide diversity of trading opportunities available to investors."

Indeed, that diversity helped keep volume at a high level for 1995; increases in the trading of options, local market instruments, and nonBrady Eurobonds balanced out declines in the trading of Brady bonds and sovereign loans.

Brady bonds and sovereign loans dropped to a 64.1% combined share of overall trading volume in 1995, from 69.7% in 1994.

In contrast to previous years, only Ecuador issued Brady-style restructurings in 1995, which pushed trading volume down 6%, to $1.58 trillion from $1.68 trillion. That volume still accounted for 57.7% of all trading in the year.

Total reported non-Brady Eurobond trading increased 41%, to $233 billion from $165 billion, and the volume share of local market instruments, such as Argentine bocones and Mexican cetes, increased to 20.9%, from 18.8%.

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