South African government bonds held firm on Friday afternoon, as the positive momentum created by the resignation of Jacob Zuma continued.The yield on the benchmark R186 bond earlier reached 8.14%, its lowest point since August 2015, indicating the reduced cost of government borrowing. It was at 8.135% on Friday from Thursday’s 8.22%. The longer-dated R207 was last bid at 6.75% from Thursday’s 6.82%.The clamour for South African assets — bonds and equities — followed the rise of Cyril Ramaphosa to the Presidency on Thursday, lifting the cloud of uncertainty hanging over markets.Ramaphosa will deliver the state of the nation address (sona) at 7pm, before the all-important budget next week. It is, however, unclear at this stage if Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba will present the budget amid murmurs of a looming Cabinet reshuffle.Gigaba and several other Cabinet ministers could either be redeployed or removed altogether because they are tainted by corruption allegations.Ratings agency M...
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