South African bonds were steady but with a weaker bias shortly before midday on Tuesday. Trading was expected to be range-bound before the conclusion of the US Federal Reserve’s federal open market committee meeting, on Wednesday. Few analysts expect an interest-rate adjustment, but investors are waiting for further signals regarding the Fed’s economic expectations, and plans to unwind monetary stimulus. Weakness in the rand seemed to be driven by position squaring in risk assets ahead of the US Fed rate decision on Wednesday, said TreasuryOne analyst Phillip Pearce. The euro, which the rand usually tracks, remains near two-year highs against the dollar driven by continued political uncertainty in the US, reported Dow Jones Newswires. At 11.30am the R186 was bid at 8.52% from Monday’s 8.535%, and the R207 at 7.305% from 7.31%. The rand was at R13.027 to the dollar from R12.9624.
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