The South African bond market was weaker on Tuesday afternoon, although off even lower levels recorded earlier in the day. The local market was marred by the political risk of a possible Cabinet reshuffle triggered by the recall of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan by President Jacob Zuma from an international investor roadshow, which led to a sharp weakening of the rand. Bonds usually track the rand, which weakened by more than 3% when the market learnt about the recall. The rand plummeted from record highs of R12.31 to the dollar to an intra-day worst level of R12.8295 on Monday. The local currency recovered some of its losses in Tuesday intra-day trade, strengthening to R12.72. At 3.29pm, the bid on the R186 was at 8.74% from Monday’s 8.72% and the R207was at 7.83% from 7.74%. Global markets are still driven by the uncertainty around US President Donald Trump’s perceived ability to deliver legislative outcomes in the quarters ahead. This has led to investors’ loss of appetite for r...
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