Canada debt issuance up 17 pct in first half 2009

TORONTO, July 6 (Reuters) - Canadian credit markets continued to thaw through the second quarter, with total debt capital market volumes higher than in the same periods in 2008 and 2007, according to Thomson Reuters data released on Monday.

Data showed that for the first half of 2009, Canadian debt capital market (DCM) volumes reached C$84.1 billion from 183 issues, a 17 percent increase over the year-ago period.

For the second quarter, DCM volume was C$47.3 billion, compared with C$43.6 billion in the same three months in 2008 and C$41.8 billion in the same quarter in 2007.

Government guaranteed, provincial and municipal bonds drove debt capital markets activity in Canada for consecutive quarters, coming in at C$54.5 billion from 110 issues, data showed.

RBC Capital Markets was the lead bookrunner for all Canadian debt, Canadian domestic corporate debt and Canadian government debt.

HSBC Holdings Plc led the tables for Canadian cross-border debt.

Analysts have said the thaw, underpinned by a central bank pledge to keep rates at a historic low until mid 2010 as well as signs that the economic downturn is slowing, will likely last.

($1=$1.16 Canadian) (Reporting by Pav Jordan; editing by Rob Wilson)