Johannesburg – South African bonds drifted
weaker in quiet midday trade on Monday‚ on the back of a softer rand.
“The euro is looking soggy‚ so that is pulling the rand and our bonds weaker‚” a local trader said.
At 11:54‚ the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 5.980% from
Friday’s close of 5.950%. The R207 was trading at 7.010% from a previous
close of 6.990% and the R186 was trading at 7.890% from its previous
close of 7.850%.
At the end of May the R157 closed at 6.390%‚ the R207 at 7.645% and the R186 at 8.375%.
The rand was bid at R8.2817 against the dollar from Friday’s close of R8.2363 and Thursday’s close of R8.1347.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that German exports and imports jumped in May‚ reversing a trend from April.
Exports increased by 3.9% on the month in May to €93.5bn‚
after falling 1.7% in April‚ calendar- and seasonally-adjusted data
released on Monday by Destatis‚ the Federal Statistics Office‚ showed.
Imports outpaced exports‚ increasing by 6.3% on the month to €78.5bn‚ reversing April's 4.9% decline.
The adjusted trade surplus was €15bn‚ Destatis said‚
matching the forecast from a group of economists surveyed by Dow Jones
Newswires. The current-account surplus fell to €9bn in May‚ down
from April's slightly downwardly revised €11bn.
Foreigners were net sellers of R888.919m of South African bonds
including repo transactions on Friday after net purchases of R481.256m
of local bonds on Thursday‚ data released by the JSE show.
Nominal cumulative volume was R45.781bn on Friday from R46.461bn on Thursday.
Foreigners were net sellers of R560.462m of South African bonds
excluding repo transactions on Friday after net purchases of R1.214bn of
local bonds on Thursday.
For the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R53.002bn
of local bonds‚ excluding repo transactions. In 2011 they were net
buyers of R47.359bn worth of local bonds‚ excluding repo transactions.
In the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R50.726bn of
local bonds including repo transactions. In 2011 they bought R37.501bn
worth of local bonds.