Bonds hold steady at firmer levels
Local government-backed securities are hardly changed on Wednesday morning, but the underlying trend remain stronger in line with the rand
The South African bond market steadied on Wednesday morning, but the underlying trend remained firmer in line with the rand, which was at multi-month highs against the dollar. The stronger bias in local bonds and the rand came despite the relatively strong dollar following the US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony to the US Congress. Yellen said interest rates would need to be increased to manage the expected tightening of the US job market and to stay ahead of inflation, which she said could rise to 2%. The relatively upbeat quarterly labour force data from Statistics SA boosted the rand, which in turn, boosted the bond market. The unemployment rate fell to 26.5% in the fourth quarter of 2016 from 27.1% in the third quarter, Stats SA data showed on Tuesday. At 8.31am, the R186 was unchanged at 8.61% and the R206 remained at 7.74%. US 10-year treasury bonds were bid at 2.4744% from 2.4322% previously.
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