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Internationalisation is the theme running through the whole of Germany's domestic debt markets as the country's issuers and bankers prepare for life in a single European capital market.

AMID ASIA'S greatest market chaos in recent history, president Suharto's politicking with the IMF and plummeting select metal prices, PT Aneka Tambang (Antam), the Indonesian state nickel and gold mining outfit, could not have picked a worse week to price its initial public offering. One banker in the syndicate said the deal, which ended up being 1.5 times subscribed, should have been pulled during the Taiwan and Hong Kong market plunge. Had the deal been put off until the region showed more signs of economic stability, he added, Antam could have enjoyed a much more successful sale.

FIRST CAME Asia's financial difficulties, then the currency devaluations and last week the beginning of the stockmarket slide. It could not be long before region's debt markets were hit as well, and Asian bonds this week suffered a bout of unprecedented volatility as spreads soared, then recovered some ground but remained at levels unimaginable only weeks ago. Debt traders, salesmen and syndicate managers joined their equity counterparts with their eyes glued to the screens as Asian Euro and global bonds see-sawed in line with the region's stockmarkets.

THE Asian financial crisis has accelerated Korea's decision to open its bond market in an attempt to boost capital inflows and stabilise local markets. The announcement came after the Korean currency slid to a record low of W964/$ against the dollar on Thursday. The plan, originally scheduled for the end of 1999, will allow foreign investors to hold a maximum of 30% of each unsecured long term corporate bond offering, and individual foreign investors up to 6% of corporate bonds. Fifty percent of non-guaranteed convertible bonds issued by conglomerates from 1998 can be held by foreigners, an increase from the current 30% limit.

ASIA'S EQUITY markets suffered a week of unprecedented volatility this week as stockmarkets saw both record daily losses and daily rises. It left the pipeline of deals expected to come to the market in the next two months looking decidedly threadbare. On Tuesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by more than 14%. The next day it bounced back 17% as Wall Street rallied. On Thursday it fell again, prompted by a decision by Moody's to place the outlook for Hong Kong banks on negative and, in particular, to review the financial strength of Hang Seng Bank and HSBC.

BRAZIL BECAME the focus of world market attention yesterday (Thursday) as its central bank rushed to defend its currency from speculators and to allay investor fears that the country would be the latest emerging market economy to suffer an exchange rate crisis. The central bank was forced to spend as much as $4.77bn on Tuesday, in net terms, to defend its currency, about $200m on Wednesday and it intervened in the market four times to spend about $1bn on Thursday. This makes a sharp dent in its previous level of $61bn of foreign exchange reserves.

* Russia's National Reserve Bank (NRB) which is planning to tap the Euromarket with a debut issue in 1998, this week received its first international credit rating. IBCA awarded the bank a BB long term rating -- one notch below the agency's BB+ sovereign ceiling for the Russian Federation. Formed in 1993, NRB is 65% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, for which the bank acts as a de facto investment banking arm.

THE LATIN AMERICAN new issue pipeline evaporated this week as spreads in benchmark Latin global bonds collapsed by more than 400bp and currency speculators, looking for a fresh target outside of Asia, began attacking Brazil and Argentina. Several billion dollars of planned new issues have already been cancelled and most frequent Latin issuers like the Republic of Argentina have announced that they will stay away from debt markets for the rest of this year if necessary.

THE United Mexican States and the Republic of Argentina are stepping up efforts to secure several billion dollars each in committed lines of credit from the syndicated loan market to shore up their funds in the wake of the latest financial market turmoil.

A TIDAL WAVE of market volatility broke across central and eastern Europe this week, causing bond spreads to widen alarmingly across the board and leaving a trail of dazed issuers, lead managers and investors in its wake. The woes of the region were best illustrated by the trading performance of the Russian Federation's $2.4bn 10 year transaction -- which ballooned to 910bp over Treasuries at one point on Tuesday from 329bp over last Thursday, tightened back into 400bp over on Wednesday, traded back out to 650bp yesterday (Thursday) before recovering to 528bp over by the close in London.

Corporates The $1.8bn (increased from $1.5bn) standby facility being arranged for ICI by HSBC Investment Bank plc and NatWest Markets was signed last Thursday by power of attorney.

THE volatility in emerging equity markets this week claimed one new issue victim when Bonton, the Czech media company, decided to delay its initial public offering at the last minute. The offering of shares in the company, which was set up seven years by two local jazz musicians, is the first international IPO from the Czech Republic.