Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - The rand was slightly firmer against the
dollar on Tuesday in range-bound trading with market players saying debt crisis
concerns in the eurozone were casting a cloud over the currency.
By 06:43 GMT, the rand was trading at R8.6600 to the
greenback, from Monday’s New York close of R8.6775.
“We’ve been basically trading in a range. There’s a lot of
liquidity not flowing through in the market,” said Victor Mphaphuli, senior
portfolio manager at Stanlib.
Global trading is expected to be slow with Wall Street firms
set to open with limited staffing in New York City later in the trading session
due to Hurricane Sandy, which has slammed the US East Coast..
South African government bonds were barely changed, with the
yield on the 3-year paper flat at 5.49% and that on the 14-year bond up a
single basis points at 7.780%.
Treasury will sell a total of R2.1bn over a range of its
2031, 2041 and 2048 government bonds in the session. Results are due after the
auction closes at 09:00 GMT.
Market players will be watching the auction closely as most of the offerings will be on the longer end of the curve with many expecting demand to be relatively tepid.
