The South African bond market was firmer on Wednesday afternoon on a stronger rand. The rand gained on better-than-expected consumer inflation data released earlier in the day as well as renewed speculation the ANC was planning to remove President Jacob Zuma from office. At 3.41pm the R186 was bid at 8.52% from 8.56% previously and the R207 was at 7.33% from 7.39%. The rand was at R12.9401 to the dollar from Tuesday’s R13.0754. Statistics SA reported that the annual inflation rate for April was 5.3%, compared to the corresponding annual rate of 6.1% in March. The market had expected inflation for April to fall to between 5.4% and 5.6%. An earlier Bloomberg report noted that the top leadership of the ANC would discuss removing Zuma from his post at a meeting this weekend, according to two senior party officials who were scheduled to be in attendance. The story was subsequently refuted by other ANC National Executive Council members, saying they had already decided against Zuma’s remo...
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