The South African bond market settled into a tighter range on Friday morning as the rand drifted off the week’s best level against the dollar. The greenback lost ground after Donald Trump failed to give investors any detail of his economic policies at his recent media conference. The yield on the benchmark R186 bond was little changed at 8.70% in early trade, from 8.69% on Thursday, but was still poised to end positive for the fourth consecutive week. Although backing off the week’s best level of R13.41 to the dollar, the rand was relatively stronger on the week so far in line with other emerging-market currencies. The dollar, on the other hand, bore the brunt of the market disappointment as investors cut their bullish bets on the greenback. "Most of the action yesterday was attributable to people unwinding their Trump trades, as his speech on Wednesday night failed to mention details on his policies that would spur US growth," Rand Merchant Bank analyst Michelle Wohlberg said in a ...
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