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Electronic bonds sell like wildfire

By Wang Bo (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-26 14:15

Prospects of further interest rate cuts and risky stock and fund investments have made many investors choose treasury bonds as their best investment option.

Special coverage: Markets Related readings:  China to issue $3.3-billion treasury bonds  China to float $6.7 billion in treasury bonds  China to float 20b yuan treasury bonds  China to issue 13th batch of treasury bonds

China Tuesday issued 20 billion yuan in electronic savings bonds, which had instant appeal to investors and were sold out within half an hour after being put on sale yesterday morning in the retail outlets of 11 commercial banks, Beijing Morning Post reported.

As the last batch of its kind this year, the bonds had a maturity term of three years and a fixed annual interest rate of 5.17 percent, higher than the 4.77 percent annual return of three-year bank deposits.

As rumors of considerable interest rate cuts spread, many investors were planning to buy treasury bonds to keep their savings from shrinking. Some senior citizens even queued for a whole night at the door of bank outlets to secure their purchase.

Many investment research institutions believe there will be more large-scaled bonds issued in the coming year, as the country needs to raise a large amount of capital through treasury bonds to provide financial support for its economic stimulus measures.

A research report by Citic Securities estimates that the country will float at least 1.3 trillion yuan bonds next year, which includes 500–600 billion yuan in new bonds and another 790 billion yuan in bonds to repay the ones that mature in 2009.