South African bonds were slightly firmer at midday on Monday, as the market followed the rand in expectation of further rand-positive political developments.The rand gained 9.97% against the dollar during 2017 and is on the front foot in 2018, having firmed 0.39% against the greenback on the expectation that President Jacob Zuma’s days as the country’s president were numbered.Further indications of this emerged at the weekend following the ANC’s January 8 statement as part of the 106th birthday festivities in the Eastern Cape. Zuma’s exit is set to be discussed when the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meets on Thursday."There was only a small outflow of foreign capital from the bond market last week, and liquidity is expected to normalise this week," analysts at Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking said.At 11.30am, the benchmark R186 was bid at 8.530% from 8.560% and the R207 at 7.205% from 7.240%. The rand was at R12.3168 to the dollar from R12.3618.Trade is expected...
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