The South African bond market was mixed before midday on Thursday with the benchmark R186 trading at its best level so far this year, but the longer dated R207 was off its best level for the year. This follows the release on Wednesday of positive economic data which favoured the local bond market. Yesterday, both the benchmark R186 and the R207 traded at their best levels since the beginning of the year on the back of this data. CPI for February eased to 6.3%, which was lower than the corresponding annual rate of 6.6% in January, while the current account deficit narrowed to 1.7% of GDP during the fourth quarter of 2016‚ from 3.8%. At 11.31am, the R186 was bid at 8.32% from Wednesday’s 8.34% and the R207 at 7.41% from 7.345% Rand Merchant Bank analyst Michelle Wohlberg said there had also been a re-allocation to safe-haven assets as the market lost faith in US President Donald Trump’s reflation trade with 10-year US treasuries managing to print below 2.40%. She said this also helped...
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