Johannesburg – The South African bond
market traded slightly softer in very quiet territory on Wednesday
afternoon ahead of the long weekend.
“Most traders called it quits earlier
in the week due to the holiday tomorrow. There is very little going
on in the market‚” a local trader said.
“Local manufacturing figures today
came out on the downside and it should have supported bonds ... but
it did not. There is probably an overhang of stock in the market from
the auction earlier in the week and some traders that have lightened
their positions before the weekend‚” he added.
“German bunds and US treasuries are
stable at high yields‚” he added.
Manufacturing production in SA
increased by a much lower than expected 0.8% year on year in June
after an upwardly revised 4.4% (4.2%) year on year rise in May‚
data released by Statistics SA on Wednesday showed.
Meanwhile‚ economic productivity in
the US grew 1.6% last quarter‚ topping expectations. But safe-haven
treasuries held on to existing gains on Wednesday‚ brushing the
data aside as bargain hunters took advantage of Tuesday’s price
drop. Ten-year notes were up 1/32 to yield 1.621%.
At 3.55pm the benchmark R157 bond was
trading at 5.595% from Tuesday’s close of 5.565%. The R207 was bid
at 6.555% and offered at 6.540% from its previous close of 6.520% and
the R186 was trading at 7.365% from its previous close of 7.350%.
The rand was at R8.1832 against the
dollar from Tuesday’s close of R8.1618.
The next local bond auction will be on
Monday‚ when the National Treasury will auction R800m worth of
R2023 bonds‚ R800m worth of R213 bonds and R500m worth of R2048
bonds.
Foreigners were net buyers of R1.006bn
of South African bonds including repo transactions on Tuesday after
net purchases of R178.641m of local bonds on Monday‚ data released
by the JSE show.
Nominal cumulative volume was R68.138bn
on Tuesday from R62.152bn on Monday.
Foreigners were net buyers of R281.604m
of local bonds excluding repo transactions on Tuesday after net sales
of R634.737m of local bonds on Monday.
For the year to date foreigners have
been net buyers of R68.013bn 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 R65.743bn of local bonds including repo
transactions. In 2011 they bought R37.501bn worth of local bonds.