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Local government bonds were marginally firmer on Tuesday morning, tracking overnight gains in the rand, as investors waited for a series of risk events later in the week.
Local exporter interest in the rand helped the unit strengthen, while foreigners continued to be net buyers of local bonds, as they had for the past two weeks, said Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking analysts.
The rand was flat on Tuesday morning, but has recovered about 20c from its worst intraday levels on Monday.
Local focus will be on Statistics SA’s GDP growth data for 2017, expected at 11.30am. Sentiment has been given a slight boost after newly re-appointed Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said a meeting with Moody’s analysts on Monday had been positive.
A higher than expected GDP number could further lift SA’s chances of avoiding a downgrade, as it would point to improved tax revenue collection.
Globally, focus remains on possible implementation by the US of import tariffs, with analysts saying European politics was playing second fiddle to the possibility of a trade war.
At 9.30am the benchmark R186 was bid at 8.17% from 8.19% while the R207 was at 6.74% from 6.76%.
The rand was at R11.8171 from R11.8316.
The US 10-year treasury was last seen at 2.8826% from 2.8615%. – BusinessLive
Bongani Ndlovu