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Johannesburg - South African bonds were firmer in early trade on Thursday, on the back of a stronger currency. A local trader said that players were also pushing prices higher ahead of the New Year.
By 08:45 the benchmark R157 bond was bid at 7.380% from its previous close of 7.395%, while the R207 was bid at 8.195% from 8.205% at its previous close.
The R186 was bid at 8.365% after closing at 8.375%.
The rand was bid at R6.5946 to the dollar from its previous close of R6.6263.
"No trades have gone through yet, but guys are trying to push prices higher ahead of tomorrow's close. We're firmer on the rand and the R157s should close around the 7.350-7.360% level today," said a local trader.
Not much is expected to happen this week, as markets remain thin between Christmas and New Year, with many players still on holiday.
Today sees the release of November's Trade foreign trade balance by Customs & Excise at 14:00, which according to leading economists surveyed by I-Net Bridge is expected to have reduced to a deficit of between R1.5bn to R2.8bn from a R3.2bn deficit in October.
A record R17.4bn deficit was set in January last year, but a few surprise surpluses have been registered since then as export performance began to improve, while the recession crimped back on imports.
Two consecutive surpluses of R5.628bn and R2bn were recorded in June and July respectively, followed by a large deficit of R4.7bn in August.
Some analysts believe that the trade balance might deteriorate due to a gradual improvement in demand as the domestic recovery gains traction.
Foreigners were net sellers of R4.349bn of South African bonds including repo transactions on Wednesday, after net purchases of R211.544m of local bonds on Tuesday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics show.
Nominal cumulative volume was R29.150bn on Wednesday from R12.787bn on Tuesday.
Foreigners were net sellers of R4.345bn of South African bonds excluding repo transactions on Wednesday after net purchases of R210.946m of local bonds on Tuesday.
In the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R56.847bn worth of local bonds, excluding repo transactions.
So far for total transactions, including repo transactions, foreigners have been net buyers of R44.340bn 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.
