South African bonds were weaker on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision on Wednesday.Markets are widely expecting an increase of 25 basis points. However, a more hawkish stance for 2018 has not been forthcoming from the Fed due to continued low inflation data. The Bank of England and European Central Bank are set to make monetary policy announcements on Thursday.Relatively high local bond yields have not yet enticed global investors back to the market, while last week foreigners were net buyers of local equities.Last week, net foreign inflows into the South African equity market amounted to R7.1bn, but the bond market experienced an outflow of R1.946bn. However, for the year to date, total foreign inflows into the local bond market are R51.8bn, compared to an outflow of R50.7bn in equities.At 3pm, the benchmark R186 bond was bid at 9.245% from 9.215% and the R207 at 8.090% from 8.065%.The rand was at R13.6323 to the dollar from R13.6073.In the U...
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