South African bonds were fairly static in early trade as they centred their attention on the rand and its potential to weaken from current levels.
By 08:58 the short-term government R153 bond was at 10.755% from its previous close of 10.785%, while the medium-term R157 was at 9.870% from 9.885% at the previous close. The long-term R186 was at 9.610% from 9.630% before.
The rand was last bid at 7.5409 per US dollar from its overnight close of 7.5457.
"It is very quiet as there is no local or global data today to drive the market from that perspective," said a senior bond trader.
However, he noted that bond investors were closely monitoring the rand after it weakened to around 7.57/58 to the dollar overnight and was thus looking slightly weaker for local players.
"We will need it to take out 7.62/63 to the dollar and then confirmation at 7.67 for it to really go," said the dealer.
Foreigners were net buyers of 1.317 billion rand worth of South African bonds on Wednesday after net purchases of 177.631 million rand worth of local bonds on Tuesday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics show.
Nominal cumulative volume was 46.197 billion rand on Wednesday from 169.249 billion rand on Tuesday. |
