Merrill joins warrant party

MERRILL Lynch yesterday issued its first covered warrant in a week that has seen six in total.

The United States investment bank issued warrants on the stock of utility Hong Kong and China Gas.

A spokesman said the issue was 100 per cent oversubscribed and would not be the last from the group.

Derivatives traders said they believed the issue was fairly expensively priced.

To date the most active issuers of covered warrants have been Jardine Fleming, Peregrine Derivatives and Barclays de Zoete Wedd.