Johannesburg - The South African bond market was firm in midday trade on Tuesday after a good weekly bond auction at 11:00.
The South African Treasury on Tuesday allotted R700m worth of R209 bonds at a clearing yield of 8.370%‚ R700m worth of R213 bonds at a clearing yield of 8.150% and R700m worth of R214 bonds at a clearing yield of 8.450%.
The bids amounted to R2.795bn‚ R3.565bn and R2.32bn respectively.
“The auction went better than expected as the bid amounts had been tapering off in the past few weeks‚ but today they amounted to R8.68 billion or more than four times the amount on offer‚” a local bond trader said.
At 11:46‚ the benchmark R186 was trading at 7.580% from Monday’s close of 7.625%. The R157 was trading at 5.430% from 5.445% at its previous close. The R207 was bid at 6.430% and offered at 6.420%‚ from its previous close of 6.440%.
The rand was bid at R8.8633 from Monday’s close of R8.8498‚ Friday’s close of 8.8533 and Thursday’s close of R8.9020. On Thursday it touched a worst level of R8.9900.