Foreign investors turn net sellers of Asian bonds in October

Foreign investors turned net sellers of Asian bonds for the first time in the year in October as US Treasury yields rose sharply in the month, reducing the appeal for regional bonds. Data from central banks and local bond market associations in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea showed foreigners net sold $1.7 billion in these bond markets in October.
With US Federal Reserve set to hike interest rates for the third time in December, US Treasury yields jumped last month on hopes of more hikes in the next year too, under a new Federal Reserve Chair. Jerome Powell, nominated by US President Donald Trump as the next Federal Reserve Chair, is widely expected to continue to raise interest rates gradually, as Yellen began to do in late 2015, and to shrink the central bank's $4.5 trillion balance sheet. In October, foreigners sold about $1.75 billion of Indonesian bonds, paring their holdings for the first time since November 2016.