South African bonds were firmer on Friday afternoon in response to a firmer rand. Bonds usually track the rand, which gained 0.5% to the dollar in lacklustre trade ahead of the long weekend. Rand Merchant Bank analyst Gordon Kerr said bond yields "continued to be re-priced higher", taking direction from the rand’s movement relative to the dollar. Even with weaker moves in the local currency, local bonds showed great resilience, with 8.76% remaining the top of the benchmark R186’s recent range, he said. Emerging market bonds, such as the R186, which is issued in rand, offer high yields and improves credit quality. The US’s first quarter GDP rose 0.7%, which was below the expected 1%. The Dow Jones news wires reported that the data reflected the US economy’s slowest pace of growth in three years. Before the GDP data were released, Momentum SP Reid Securities analysts said US 10-year treasury yields edged lower as economic data remained on the soft side. At 3.37pm, the bid on the R186 ...
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