South African bonds were firmer on Monday morning, taking their cure from the stronger rand. The rand gained ground after ratings agency S&P left SA’s credit ratings unchanged on Friday, as Fitch had done on Thursday. Bonds, which usually track the rand, firmed on Friday along with US treasuries as nonfarm payroll data printed weaker than expected. The US created 138‚000 new jobs in May‚ much lower than the expected 182‚000. Rand Merchant Bank analyst John Cairns said S&P’s decision, weaker US nonfarm payrolls data and a favourable emerging-markets backdrop had favoured the rand and bonds. At 9.18am the R186 was bid at 8.4% from Friday’s 8.44% and the R207 at 7.335% from 7.37%. At the same time the rand was at R12.7439 to the dollar from R12.8025.
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