Johannesburg - With little in the way of
fresh news to provide any direction, South African bonds drifted off
their best levels on Wednesday, trading in a range.
Earlier they were buoyed by news of the successful issue of a $2bn sovereign bond on Tuesday as well as a firmer rand.
By 15:05, the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.055% and
offered at 7.035% after closing at 7.015% on Tuesday and the medium-term
R157 was at 8.170% from 8.140% at its previous close. The long-term R186 was
at 8.950% from 8.905% previously.
The rand was bid at 7.5324 to the dollar from 7.5953 at its previous
close.
A local trader said bonds had drifted off their best levels, but it
really has nothing to do with fundamentals and more to do with the fact that
this is a week with little major economic data drivers.
"Bonds are in a range - there is not really any fresh news to drive the
market," he said.
Traders said the sovereign bond issue had received excellent demand,
with issuance of $2bn at a surprisingly good rate. This was positive news
for both bonds and the currency.
South Africa on Tuesday successfully issued $2bn in dollar
denominated bonds - the largest amount ever raised by South Africa and
completes funding for the 2010/11 fiscal year.
The bond is a 10 year one, maturing 9 March 2020. The coupon is 5.5% -
the lowest coupon South Africa has ever negotiated in the dollar market.
This translates into a yield of 197 basis points above the US benchmark
of 352 basis points. The interest rate South Africa will pay is 5.59% per
annum. The bond was lead managed by Deutsche Bank and Standard Bank and co-
led by Nedbank.
The only data release this morning was the Sacci Business Confidence
Index (BCI) for February, which increased by 1.8 index points to 83.0 from
81.2 in January.
This is 1.5 points below the February 2009 level. According to Sacci,
the BCI has performed as expected in February 2010 with business confidence
responding to positive medium term economic developments.
The National Treasury announced that it will auction R700m
worth of R203 bonds and R1.4bn worth of R207 bonds on March 9, at
its weekly auction.
Foreigners were net buyers of R1.154bn of South African bonds
including repo transactions on Tuesday, after net sales of R831.962m of local bonds on Monday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics
show.
Nominal cumulative volume was R119.845bn on Tuesday from
R51.033bn on Monday.
Foreigners were net buyers of R1.155bn of South African bonds
excluding repo transactions on Tuesday, after net sales of R452.971m of local bonds on Monday.
In the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R6.78bn
worth of local bonds, excluding repo transactions.
So far for total transactions, including repo transactions, foreigners
have been net buyers of R8.011m worth of bonds.
In 2009 foreigners were net buyers of R27.346bn worth of local
bonds, excluding repo transactions, while for total transactions, including
repo transactions, foreigners were net sellers of R2.424bn worth
of bonds.
- I-Net Bridge