The latest investment and funds news in Asia-Pacific.

Bloomberg
Bloomberg, the international media, business data and information services group has rolled out its new “Kungfu” bond tools to help investors track the dollar-denominated debt issued by Chinese companies.

The US-headquartered company has also unveiled “Kungfu bond”, an industry reference for offshore US dollar bonds issued by Chinese firms and offshore organisations, it said.

The move comes amid strong growth in the bond sector in China; China dollar bonds doubled in issuance to $287 billion in 2017, among which a record of $148 billion was issued by Chinese corporations, according to Bloomberg data. Some 80 per cent of surveyed firms are already investing in the Chinese dollar bond market, and almost 30 per cent expect the outlook of the market to overweight in 2018, Bloomberg said. China has been widening foreign investor access to its capital markets. On the equity market side, the MSCI benchmarking group has admitted onshore China A-shares to its emerging market indices, paving the way for their inclusion in the holdings of mainstream investors.

The new Bloomberg service offering includes new benchmark yield curves, real-time news on China’s debt capital market and the Bloomberg Barclays Emerging Market (EM) USD Aggregate China index.