SA's bonds, rand weak on risk-averse trade

Johannesburg - Yields on South Africa's government debt rose on Tuesday after a poor bond auction and the rand weakened to a month-low as Greece's debt woes and Ukraine's conflict sapped risk appetite.

Government bonds weakened with the yield for the 2026 benchmark jumping 13 basis points to a month-high of 7.585% as of 1516 GMT.

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"It's a combination of international trends, the rand that is under pressure and then we had a weak bond auction," said Marten Banninga, head of bond trading at WWC Securities.

On Tuesday the Treasury sold 2.35bn worth of its 2030, 2044 and 2048 paper, the same bonds sold at last week's auction.

However this week the papers cleared at higher yields and demand dropped.

The rand was trading 1.06% softer at 11.7125 to the dollar, after hitting new month-low of 11.7220.

Sentiment was also hit by the domestic economy's dim prospects as Eskom struggles to meet electricity demand.