Money SA economy
Bonds were up to eight basis points firmer in late trade on Wednesday, buoyed by a slightly firmer rand and some short covering.
Short covering activity is positive for prices as it means short sellers had to purchase securities to close out short sales.
By 3.50pm the benchmark R157 bond was bid at 7.165 from 7.225% at its close on Monday. The benchmark R207 was bid at 7.865% from 7.920%, while the R186 was bid at 7.940% from 8.025%.
The rand was bid at R7.3293/$ from R7.3700/$ at its previous close.
On Wednesday, the Treasury announced it would auction R1.1 billion worth of R203 bonds and R1.0 billion worth of R207 bonds at its weekly auction on September 7. Foreigners were net buyers of R1.686 billion of bonds including repo transactions on Tuesday after net sales of R16.566 million of local bonds on Monday, Bond Exchange of South Africa statistics show.
