JOHANNESBURG: The rand firmed against the dollar on Monday after local South African bonds were formally included in Citi's prestigious World Government Bond Index(WGBI), exposing them to a much wider pool of international investors.
The rand was 0.36 percent firmer at 8.2775 against the greenback at 0610 GMT from Friday's New York close of 8.315.
Twelve South African government bonds with a market value of $93.82 billion acceded to the index, representing 0.45 percent of its value, Citigroup said last week.
It is hard to pinpoint how much money fund managers have injected into local debt ahead of the inclusion but analysts reckon WGBI-related demand has accounted for much of the nearly 71 billion rand ($8.67 billion) of bonds purchased by foreign accounts so far this year.
"Maybe we can expect a rush of bond inflows today but there was practically nothing on Friday," Rand Merchant Bank said in a note.
Traders said that the rand was likely to continue to trade in an 8.17-8.34 range, although they did not rule out the possibility of the local currency due to weakness in the euro.
The single currency hit a three-week low on Monday after an audit of Spain's banks failed to quell concerns about the country's progress towards a bailout needed to shore up its public finances.
Locally, investors will watch the Kagiso September Purchasing Managers' Index at 0900 GMT.
The yield on the three-year bond was up two basis points to 5.40 percent and that on the 14-year paper rose 2.5 basis points to 7.455 percent.
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