Johannesburg - South African bonds were mixed in late trade on Thursday as the rand had a late surge, firming in line with the euro. However, traders noted that although there was some movement at the back end of the yield curve, bonds were pretty much in ranges.
By 16:00 the benchmark R157 bond was at 7.630% after closing at 7.640% on Wednesday and the 10-year R207 was at 8.380% from 8.355% previously. The long-term R186 was bid at 8.535% from 8.510% at its previous close.
The rand was bid at R7.2200 to the dollar from R7.2622 at its previous close.
Dealers said earlier that bonds had seen some profit taking, which had caused them to pull back a couple of basis points. However the firmer rand in the afternoon session had seen the R157 firm a tad. However, bonds were confined to recent ranges and the rand was not moving them either direction in a big way.
Earlier Thursday the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said its Business Confidence Index (BCI) fell to 84.3 in July - a marginal decrease of 0.5 basis points from June's 84.8. Saccisaid that the BCI for July is the second highest reading for the BCI to date in 2010.
Foreigners were net buyers of R2.0bn worth of South African bonds including repo transactions on Wednesday after net purchases of R585.519m of local bonds on Tuesday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics show.
Nominal cumulative volume was R46.333bn on Wednesday from R145.765bn on Tuesday.
Foreigners were net buyers of R1.449bnof South African bonds excluding repo transactions on Wednesday, after net purchases of R583.981m of local bonds on Tuesday.
In the year to date foreigners have been net buyers of R58.166bn worth of local bonds, excluding repo transactions.
So far for total transactions, including repo transactions, foreigners have been net buyers of R51.169bn worth of bonds.
In 2009 foreigners were net buyers of R27.755bn worth of local bonds, excluding repo transactions, while for total transactions, including repo transactions, foreigners were net sellers of R2.424bn worth of bonds.
