South African bonds edged marginally firmer on Monday afternoon on stronger global bond markets, as investors eyed Wednesday’s interest-rate decision by the US Federal Reserve.The Fed is widely expected to raise its target rate by 25 basis points to 1.25%-1.5%. Investors would closely scrutinise commentary by Fed officials on interest rates in 2018, analysts said."That will take the number of hikes this year to three, as per its forecast towards the back end of last year," Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said.The European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England were also set to announce rate decisions this week."The decision by these banks are likely to be more uninteresting, with both central banks having only recently tightened monetary policy and in no rush to do so again," Erlam said.The largely stable rand failed to provide more direction to the market.At 3pm the R186 was bid at 9.245% from 9.25% and the R207 at 8.08% from 8.1%.The rand was at R13.6345 to the dollar from R13.6874.Dow ...
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