THE smaller tranche of China's 1995 Treasury bonds has been given a mild reception since trading began on the stock exchanges of Shanghai and Shenzhen this week.
The Shanghai exchange kicked off 1995 bond trades on Tuesday, and Shenzhen yesterday.
Brokers say the 1995 three-year bonds fell from 99.8 yuan (about HK$90.8) to 99.54 yuan in Shanghai yesterday; and in Shenzhen the debut dipped to 99.12 yuan.
About 58,000 lots of 1995 bond contracts, each worth 2,000 yuan in face value, were traded in Shanghai yesterday while in Shenzhen 10,282 lots, each representing 1,000 yuan in face value, changed hands, according to brokers.
Brokers said trading in 1995 bonds had not been exciting, blaming it on the huge size of the issue.
Yang Er'mei, head of treasury at J & A Securities, in Shanghai, said: 'There have been many buyers. But the size is 20 billion yuan.' Ms Yang speculated that only a third of Shanghai's allocated share for the tranche had been sold, and the rest was being taken up by brokerages which underwrote them.
