Johannesburg - The South African bond market was firm in midday trade on Wednesday on a stronger rand.
“We have seen some buying this morning‚ but the market is not taking large positions until the current account data is released tomorrow‚” a local bond trader said.
At 11:53‚ the benchmark R186 was trading at 7.565% from Tuesday’s close of 7.580%. The R157 was trading at 5.490% from 5.505% at its previous close. The R207 was bid at 6.505% and offered at 6.485%‚ from its previous close of 6.510%.
The rand was bid at R8.7885/$ from Tuesday’s close of R8.7856 and Monday’s close of R8.8655.
On Thursday the South African Reserve Bank will release its Quarterly Bulletin at 10:00. This will contain the third quarter current account figures as well as government‚ households‚ and corporate expenditure levels.
Economists forecast the current account to have remained in deficit in the third quarter from the 6.4% deficit in the second quarter.
The forecasts are mainly on a deteriorating trade balance‚ which has recorded shortfalls since the beginning of the year.
Official figures released last Friday showed that the trade account recorded a staggering R21.2bn deficit in October.
The National Treasury will auction R1.1bn worth of R213 bonds and R1.1bn worth of R2048 bonds on December 11.
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