JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand and government bonds were holding steady in early trade on Tuesday but the rand was expected to weaken during the session as European and US failures to sort out sovereign debt problems cast a gloom over emerging markets.
The rand is still lingering around a six-week low against the dollar and with investors showing little appetite for risky positions the local currency looks vulnerable.
By 0646 GMT it was trading at 8.3250 against the dollar compared to Monday's 8.3369 close.
The 8.35 level is providing the next level of rand support, which, if breached, will open up the 2011 low of 8.4950.
Government bond prices nudged higher as yields shed 5 basis points each on the benchmarks, with dealers citing some local demand in a thin market.
The 2015 yield was at 6.825 percent and the 2026 yield at 8.52 percent.
"We've repriced the curve quite quickly from the Monetary Policy Committee. A few days ago we were expecting a rate cut and now the market is pricing no risk of a rate cut at all and in that environment bonds start to offer value," said Daniel Sabiston, a bond dealer at Absa Capital.
The Treasury has put up 2.1 billion rand ($252 million) of the 2018 and 2036 issue bonds for sale at its weekly debt auction to raise funds to plug the national deficit. Results of the sale will be out after the auction closes at 0900 GMT.
The central bank is releasing it monthly economic indicator for September at 0900 GMT. Market expectations are for a further fall in the index as it is partly made up of domestic data already released and showing weakness.
The bank will also hold a briefing on its twice-yearly monetary policy review at 1530 GMT. Investors will be keen to hear what Governor Gill Marcus has to say about economic growth and inflation.
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