The South African bond market got off to a positive start on Wednesday morning, taking its lead from a stronger rand ahead of the eagerly awaited medium-term budget policy statement on Wednesday afternoon. Sasfin Securities’ head of fixed-income dealing, Ashley Dickinson, said the market would be hoping for a best-case scenario, even though Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan had very little room to manoeuvre. "The market will be looking for initiatives to boost growth, reduce wasteful expenditure and maintain the current tax structure. These three items could be a bridge too far and we are likely to see an unpopular expansion of the tax burden at the very least." The yield on the R186 bond was at 8.740% in early trade, from 8.770% Tuesday. The rand held at three-week high to the dollar at R13.708. Government bond yields in some of the developed markets were mostly higher on Wednesday morning, but the benchmark US treasury note was at 1.7491% from 1.7657% on Tuesday.
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