SA bonds held steady in late afternoon trade on Monday as the global environment continued to support emerging-market currencies and bonds. The local economy has been hit recently by blows such as credit downgrades, a revision of the Mining Charter and the public protector’s recommendation that the constitutional clause guaranteeing Reserve Bank independence be changed. "Low interest rates across the developed world entail a demand for high-yielding assets in emerging markets," Old Mutual Multi-Managers investment strategist Izak Odendaal said. Just last week, politically unstable, deeply junk-rated, inflation-plagued Argentina sold $2.75bn worth of a 100-year bond. "This is a country that had defaulted on its debt five times in the past 100 years, most recently in 2014," Odendaal said. Local bonds were also supported by a stronger rand. At 3.52pm the bids on the R186 and R207 were unchanged at 8.51% and 7.43%, respectively. The rand was at R12.8390/$ from R12.9209/$. The US 10-year...
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