South African bonds were slightly weaker on Wednesday morning as market attention turned to the US Federal Reserve.The Federal open market committee is expected to keep interest rates unchanged, despite signs that the economy has been on a growth trajectory. An interest-rate increase, however, seems probable in coming months, but then the focus is likely to shift towards the appointment of the next Fed chief as Janet Yellen’s term ends in February 2018.Rand Merchant Ban analyst Gordon Kerr said the interest-rate announcement was expected to move treasuries higher and push local yields up as the rand came under pressure. Kerr said there was a chance this would create some better buying opportunities for investors who had supported the market at these elevated yields. "The outlook for bonds remains cloudy at best for the remainder of the week." Bond yields have been trading above the 9% level since last week’s disappointing medium-term budget policy statement that raised the fear of ...
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