Johannesburg - South African bonds were flat in quiet midday trade on Tuesday, amid thin trading volumes after the Christmas long weekend.
Markets are expected to be very quiet this week, with most players away for the week between Christmas and New Year.
By 11:45 the benchmark R157 bond was at 7.385%, from its previous close of 7.400%, while the R207 was bid at 8.210% from 8.205% at its previous close. The R186 was bid at 8.385% after closing at 8.380%.
The rand was bid at 6.6604 to the dollar from its previous close of 6.7305.
"Volumes are really thin, there's nothing much going on with many players still on holiday. Rand strength hasn't had any impact on the market," said a local trader.
Earlier in the day, another trader said that the market had been flat throughout the last few trading sessions.
"We aren't expecting any fireworks today," he said.
Foreigners were net sellers of R39.397m of South African bonds including repo transactions on Friday, after net sales of R396.037m of local bonds on Thursday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics show.
Nominal cumulative volume was R10.723bn on Friday from R13.422bn on Thursday.
Foreigners were net sellers of R39.437m of South African bonds excluding repo transactions on Friday after net sales of R755.252m of local bonds on Thursday.
In the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R60.981bn worth of local bonds, excluding repo transactions.
So far for total transactions, including repo transactions, foreigners have been net buyers of R48.468bn worth of bonds.
In 2009 foreigners were net buyers of R27.755bn worth of local bonds, excluding repo transactions, while for total transactions, including repo transactions, foreigners were net sellers of R3.3bn worth of bonds.