South African bonds were steady in quiet early trade on Monday as traders settled into the lethargic December holiday period.
At 0850 the key government R150 bond was at 11,010%, the same as Friday’s close, while the yield on the longer-dated R153 was 10,750% from 10,740%. The
newer R194 was bid at 10,865% compared with 10,850% at its previous close.
“We have hardly had any trades this morning. I am afraid that we have gone straight into holiday mode on the first trading day in December and things are
only going to get worse in terns of trading volumes,” said a bond trader.
The rand was last at R9,2450 per dollar from Friday’s close of 9,2550 and Thursday’s close of R9,2900 per dollar.
Foreigners were net sellers of R210,638-million worth of South African bonds on Friday after net purchases of R25,270-million worth of bonds on Thursday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics show. Nominal cumulative volume was R25,591-billion on Friday from R37,534-billion on Thursday. – I-Net Bridge