Venezuela debt plunges on freezing of PDVSA assets

Venezuela's sovereign bonds sold off on Thursday after court orders around the world froze about $12 billion (6.2 billion pounds) in assets belonging to state oil company PDVSA, the main source of government income.
The decisions, which favour Exxon Mobil Corp , come ahead of a multibillion-dollar arbitration case over Venezuela's nationalization of several oil projects last June. Assets owned by ConnocoPhillips were also seized at that time.
The news sparked concerns about possible retaliation by President Hugo Chavez against foreign investors and weighed on Venezuela's sovereign bonds.
The benchmark global bond due 2027 lost 2.375 points in price to be bid 98.938, while total returns offered by the country's debt slipped 1.52 percent according to the JP Morgan EMBI+ index.
'I'm concerned about what type of measures Venezuela could come up with to retaliate against the move,' said Goldman Sachs' senior economist Alberto Ramos. 'But I think the implication for debt sustainability or debt payment is minimum at this stage.'"