Johannesburg – The South African bond market was softer in afternoon trade on Friday on a host of factors.
“We started stronger‚ but since then a whole host of factors has seen the bond curve shift weaker‚ especially the long end‚” a local bond trader said.
At 3:30‚ the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 5.530% from 5.480% at Thursday’s close. The R207 was bid at 6.590% and offered at 6.570% from Thursday’s close of 6.490%‚ and the R186 was trading at 7.560% from 7.430% at its previous close.
The rand was bid at R8.2547 from Thursday’s close of R8.2365 and Wednesday’s close of R8.3216.
Dealers said tensions between China and Japan‚ the storming of Western embassies in Arab countries and the Japanese hint of intervention to cap gains in the yen against the US dollar were some of the factors resulting in investors lightening their bond positions.
Foreigners sold a net R55.080m of South African bonds including repo transactions on Thursday after net sales of R1.087bn of local bonds on Wednesday‚ data released by the JSE shows.
Nominal cumulative volume was R70.937bn on Thursday from R69.502bn on Wednesday.
Foreigners were net buyers of R41.358m of local bonds excluding repo transactions on Thursday after net sales of R1.403bn of local bonds on Wednesday.
For the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R72.179bn 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 R72.738bn of local bonds including repo transactions. In 2011 they bought R37.501bn worth of local bonds including repo transactions.