A record first quarter for Asia's bond markets

The first quarter was a bonanza for Asia's bond markets as issuers took advantage of the cashed-up balance sheets that investors had accumulated during 2009. According to Dealogic figures, first-quarter 2010 volumes in the G3 currency markets came to just over $20 billion from 41 deals. FinanceAsia has covered 23 of these deals that priced in the US dollar market.

The 2009 volume for the same period was low in comparison, with $11.8 billion raised from 16 G3 currency deals across the Asia ex-Japan region.