The recently launched Portugal exchange traded fund has been outperforming the broader European markets as the country slowly eases out of its bailout program.
The Global X FTSE Portugal 20 ETF (NYSEArca: PGAL), which debuted Nov. 13, has gained almost 4.0% since its inception. [Global X Portugal ETF Goes Live]
Portugal exchanged 6.64 billion euros, or $9 billion, in bonds to reduce its debt repayments due over the next two years for notes due in 20017 and 2018, Bloomberg reports.
“It was a good operation,” Filipe Silva, a manager at Banco Carregosa SA in Oporto, said in the article. “To accept the exchange for 2017 and 2018 is, above all, a good sign, for the risk perception of Portuguese debt.”
Portugal is paying an interest rate of 3.2% on its bailout loans. Government debt is currently ranked speculative grade by Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s.
The issuance of later-dated bonds indicates that investors are growing more confident in Portuguese debt. Portugal’s bonds were also the best performers in November among 26 sovereign markets tracked by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies, returning 1.9 percent.