South African bonds were weaker on Thursday afternoon in volatile trade ahead of the long weekend. South African markets will be closed on Friday for Youth Day, when the country commemorates the 1976 Soweto student uprising. The revolt was led by black school children protesting against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools. The benchmark R186 bond reversed earlier gains as the market digested the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates. The 25-basis points increase was expected while the Fed’s hawkish tone had only been expected by some analysts. The local bond market had earlier tracked a stronger rand, which weakened steadily throughout the day. At 3.31pm the R186 was bid at 8.495% from Wednesday’s 8.39% and the R207 at 7.47% from 7.37%. The rand was at R12.8662 to the dollar from R12.6835. While analysts said a number of factors affected the market on Thursday, the new mining charter contributed to market volatility. The newly gazetted third it...
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