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Johannesburg - The rand steadied against the dollar
on Tuesday with traders expecting it to hold within its current R9.75-85 band
ahead of long awaited US non-farm jobs data later in the day.
Government bonds extended the previous day's losses ahead of a
local weekly auction and as some market players saw the off chance of increased
issuance when Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan presents his medium-term budget
forecasts on Wednesday.
By 08:50 the local currency traded at R9.8440 to the
greenback, barely changed from Monday's close in New York at R9.8345.
The yield for the 2026 secondary market benchmark added three
basis points to 7.88 percent and the 2015 paper at the shorter end of the curve
ticked up 1.5 basis points to 5.815%.
Gordhan will probably widen his budget deficit forecast for
2013/14 to 4.9% of GDP from the 4.6% seen in February, a Reuters
poll of 15 economists showed.
Some market watchers say the Treasury might adjust its
borrowing plans slightly higher, to plug the shortfall.
