/ 6 January 2014

South African bonds weaken with rand

At midday on Monday
At midday on Monday

South African bonds were weaker at midday on Monday‚ pulled down by the rand‚ which depreciated further against the dollar due to a political crisis in Turkey.

The local currency weakened to an intraday worst level of R10.73 to the dollar along with other emerging-market currencies after political tension in Turkey saw the Turkish lira slump to a record low against the greenback.

A Johannesburg bond trader said although yields had edged up on the back of a weaker rand‚ volumes were still low‚ with most market participants still on leave.

At 12.18pm the benchmark R186 was at 8.300% from 8.260% at Friday's close. The R157 was bid at 6.250% and offered at 6.220% from 6.200% at its previous close‚ while the R207 was bid at 7.580% and offered at 7.555% from 7.535% on Friday.

The rand had recovered slightly to trade at R10.7061 to the dollar from R10.6425 overnight.

Activity on the bond market is expected to begin gathering momentum later in the week when most players start returning to work. – I-Net Bridge