By Dhara Ranasinghe
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Debt agency officials are conscious that the end of central bank largesse has unleashed volatility in fixed-income markets, but bonds are becoming more attractive again, a senior official at Ireland’s debt management agency said on Wednesday.
Anthony Linehan, who is deputy director of funding and debt management at Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency, said the debt agency was sensitive to which parts of the bond market might need support.
“But we need to be conscious that vast majority of trades have gone well,” he told the Association for Financial Markets in Europe’s (AFME)conference in Brussels.
“In a year of huge adjustment, it’s not been a bad year for bonds,” he added.
Linehan also said that flexibility was needed but that Ireland’s debt agency had not had big complaints from investors about market liquidity.
Surging inflation, central banks ramping up rate hikes at their fastest pace in years and heightened geopolitical risks have ramped up bond market volatility this year.
(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Writing by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Amanda Cooper)