WARDLEY, the merchant banking arm of HSBC Holdings, launches a bond index today to act as a benchmark for the value of the Hong Kong dollar bond market.
The Wardley Hongkong Bond Index has been given a base of 100 and its value, calculated as a weighted average of 23 bonds, will be revised monthly.
According to Andrew Fung, manager of swaps and trading at Wardley, the index comprises 23 publicly and privately offered Hong Kong dollar fixed-interest bond issues.
''Other issues will be added as their payment date comes,'' he said.
''For instance, issues by Hongkong Land and Nordic Investment Bank will be added by January,'' he said.
In order to be included on the index issues must meet a number of criteria.
Index bonds must be fixed-interest local currency issues with a maturity of more than one year, Mr Fung said.
