South African government bonds were mixed, but little changed, shortly before noon on Thursday, despite a slightly weaker rand as global sentiment turned risk off.The yield on 10-year US treasuries earlier hit 2.955%, before recovering slightly, as the market reacted to what many perceived as hawkishly themed minutes from the US Federal Reserve meeting in January.The minutes, released on Wednesday, saw a majority of US policy makers agree that interest rates would rise more quickly than expected due to accelerating economic growth.Although bullish on the economy, the levels of anxiety in the market were rising as the yield on US treasuries approach 3%, said BK Asset Management MD Kathy Lien.Some analysts have warned the psychologically important 3% level for US treasury yields could precipitate a bear market for global bonds.At 11.30am, the yield on the benchmark R186 bond was at 8% from 7.97%, while the longer-dated R207 was bid at 6.63% from 6.64%.The rand was at R11.7259 to the d...
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