Johannesburg - South African bonds were weaker in late trade on Tuesday, on the back of a "poor" auction and slightly softer rand.
By 15:50 the benchmark R157 bond was bid at 7.240 from 7.225% at its close on Monday. The benchmark R207 was bid at 7.960% from 7.920%, while the R186 was bid at 8.060% from 8.025%.
The rand was bid at R7.4120 to the dollar from R7.3340 at its previous close.
"Bonds are weaker on the back of a poor auction earlier today. The currency is also down and bonds have fed off this too," said a local trader.
At its weekly auction on Tuesday, the National Treasury received bids totalling R2.41bn for R1.1bn worth of R208 bonds and bids totalling R1.99bn for R1bn worth of R214 bonds
According to Customs & Excise figures released on Tuesday, South Africa recorded a trade surplus of R2.018bn for its trade with non-
Southern African Customs Union trading partners in July, after a surprise surplus of R5.63bn in June.
South Africa's foreign trade balance with its non-Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) trading partners was expected to have reached an R800m deficit in July from the surprise R5.63bn surplus of June, according to a survey by I-Net Bridge.
Earlier in the day the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) released credit extension to the private sector (PSCE) and M3 money supply data.
Credit extension to the private sector (PSCE) grew at a rate of 1.98% year-on-year (y/y) in July from a revised 0.89% (0.92%) y/y in June, the Sarb said on Tuesday.
The rate of growth of South Africa's broad M3 money supply measure rose by 3.71% in the year to end July from 2.40% (2.41%) in the year to end June.
Foreigners were net sellers of R16.566m of South African bonds including repo transactions on Monday after net sales of R63.605m of local bonds on Friday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics show.
Nominal cumulative volume was R10.985bn on Monday from R15.664bn on Friday.
Foreigners were net sellers of R122.929m of South African bonds excluding repo transactions on Monday after net sales of R48.685m of local bonds on Friday.
In the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R66.744bn worth of local bonds, excluding repo transactions.
So far for total transactions, including repo transactions, foreigners have been net buyers of R60.147bn 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 R2.424bn worth of bonds.