The South African bond market was slightly weaker on Thursday, with traders focused on the inauguration of Donald Trump as the US president. Trump will be inaugurated as the US’s 45th president on Friday. Rand Merchant Bank’s Michelle Wohlberg said the bond market was likely to continue to trade in "a very narrow range" ahead of Trump’s inauguration. As the market had expected, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept interest rates and its stimulus plans unchanged from December. Dow Jones Newswires reported that markets showed little immediate reaction to the ECB’s decision. Statistics SA released worse-than-expected inflation figures on Thursday. Consumer inflation increased to 6.8% in December from 6.6% in November, an outcome that would usually not favour the bond market. But, said Wohlberg, the market largely ignored the data, with the rand hardly reacting and bonds continuing to trade in a narrow range. At 3.40pm R186 was bid 8.720% from Wednesday’s 8.660% and the R207 was bid at ...
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