Johannesburg - South African bonds found themselves in
choppy territory at noon on Wednesday‚ awaiting word from the US Federal
Reserve (Fed) later on Wednesday and the European Central Bank (ECB) on
Thursday and despite stronger local PMI figures.
“The R157 is 15 basis points weaker and the yield curve was
a touch flatter ... we will pretty much stay the same until we get colour from
the guys overseas (Fed and ECB)‚” said a local trader.
At 11:43 the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 5.515% from
Tuesday’s close of 5.500%. The R207 was bid at 6.525% and offered at 6.495%
from its previous close of 6.510% and the R186 was trading at 7.340%‚ from its
previous close of 7.330%.
At the end of May the R157 closed at 6.390%‚ the R207 at
7.645% and the R186 at 8.375%.
The rand was bid at R8.2325 against the dollar from
Tuesday’s close of R8.2599.
Meanwhile‚ PMI figures worldwide are also coming under the
spotlight on Wednesday.
SA’s seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) by
Kagiso Tiso Holdings‚ released earlier on Wednesday‚ bounced back to expansion
territory at 51 index points in July from 48.2 in June.
“Despite the improvement in the PMI‚ the local manufacturing
sector remained under strain due to lower demand from SA’s key export markets‚”
said Abdul Davids‚ head of research at Kagiso Asset Management.
Foreigners were net buyers of R2.031bn of South African
bonds including repo transactions on Tuesday after net purchases of R696.341m
of local bonds on Monday‚ data released by the JSE shows.
Nominal cumulative volume was R220.784bn on Tuesday from
R78.597bn on Monday.
Foreigners were net buyers of R2.145bn of South African
bonds excluding repo transactions on Tuesday after net purchases of R602.393m
of local bonds on Monday.
For the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of
R63.690bn 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
R59.646bn of local bonds including repo transactions. In 2011 they bought
R37.501bn worth of local bonds.