South African bonds were slightly firmer shortly before midday on Friday, with all eyes on the release of US inflation data for June later in the afternoon. The prospect of flagging price pressures in the world’s largest economy has raised hopes of monetary policy tightening being more gradual than anticipated. Earlier this week, US Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen indicated that interest-rate increases would be gradual, and inflation data closely watched, which had lifted emerging-market bonds. The US consumer price index was expected to rise to 0.1% in June from the previous month’s -0.1%, according to a consensus forecast from economists polled by Bloomberg. Year-on-year inflation was expected to be 1.7% from 1.9%. The Fed has set an inflation target of above 2%. Sasfin Wealth analysts said bond trade was likely to be rand-driven, pending the release of the data. The inflation data was "set to be the last piece of the puzzle for the short-term direction in the US", Treasu...
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