The South African bond market was under intense pressure on Friday morning, taking direction from overseas markets. The yield on the benchmark R186 bond crossed the 9% mark for the first time in weeks, as fears mounted over possible aggressive rate increases in the US under Donald Trump, who has indicated he is in favour of fiscal stimulus. Underscoring this prospect was the spike this week in the US 10-year treasury above the 2% mark for the first time since January. The rand, which correlates with the bond market, hovered near a four-week low against the dollar. "Yesterday’s sharp weakening in the rand came in as investors globally pulled money out of the EMs [emerging markets] and redirected the previous risk-off outflows from the US, seen in the lead up to the elections," said Wichard Cilliers, head of dealing and a director at TreasuryOne. The yield on the R186 benchmark was at 9.130% in early trade, from 9% on Thursday.
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