South African bonds were firmer on Wednesday at midday following lower consumer-inflation data released in the morning, and ahead of Thursday’s interest-rate decision by the Reserve Bank.The Bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, but will provide some guidance on the expected inflationary path in 2018.The market also followed the rand, which firmed to R13.8627 to the dollar following the resignation of former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe late on Tuesday.The consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.8% in October from a year earlier, after an unrevised 5.1% increase in September. "The CPI print caused a knee-jerk reaction to the rand, but should not weigh in too much on tomorrow’s rate decision," said TreasuryOne dealer Gerard van der Westhuizen.Other notable events on Wednesday include the release of minutes from the US Federal Reserve ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US on Thursday.At 11.30am, the R186 was bid at 9.42% from 9.46% and the R207 at 8.125% from...
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