Johannesburg - South African bonds were firmer in
midday trade on Tuesday, after a "fairly positive" weekly government
bond auction.
At 11:50, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 6.455% from
Monday's close of 6.500%. The R207 was bid at 7.660% and offered at
7.635% from a previous close of 7.695% and the R186 was trading at
8.360% from its close of 8.415%.
The rand was bid at 8.1835 against the dollar from Monday's close of 8.1983.
"There was demand at the auction, despite all the concern that
it would go horribly. I think that the German GDP number put a bit a
positive spin on the markets too. With the rand and risk situation
looking better, I think there's scope for us to move lower here," a
local bond trader said.
At its weekly auction, the National Treasury received bids
totalling R1.07bn for R500m worth of R204 bonds at a
clearing yield of 7.340%, bids totalling R3.09bn for R800m
worth of R186 bonds at a clearing yield of 7.360% and bids totalling
R1.81bn for R800m worth of R214 bonds at a clearing yield
of 8.910%.
Foreigners were net sellers of R5.986m of South African
bonds including repo transactions on Monday after net purchases of
R907.524m of local bonds on Friday, data released by the JSE
shows.
Nominal cumulative volume was R74.052bn on Monday after R50.409bn on Friday.
Foreigners were net buyers of R69.425m of South African
bonds excluding repo transactions on Monday after net purchases of
R907.63m of local bonds on Friday.
For the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of
R36.795bn 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 R32.657bn of local bonds including repo transactions. In 2011 they bought
R37.501bn of local bonds.