South African bonds were slightly firmer on Friday afternoon, following a stronger rand which benefited from a weaker dollar environment. The euro, which the rand usually tracks, was near a two-year high against the dollar amid fresh reports of investigations into the financial affairs of US President Donald Trump, reported Dow Jones Newswires. Analysts said there had been little reaction to the Reserve Bank’s interest-rate cut on Thursday, with the local unit having strengthened more than 1% against hard currencies by Thursday afternoon. The Bank cut the repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 6.75%. The move surprised economists and analysts who had expected it would be kept on hold, despite easing inflation and SA’s technical recession. After the Bank’s announcement global factors would predominate, as focus turned to the Federal Reserve open market committee meeting next week, said Rand Merchant Bank analyst Gordon Kerr. At 3.30pm, the R186 was bid at 8.5% from Thursday’s 8.545% a...
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