JOHANNESBURG, July 10 (Reuters) – Yields on South Africa’s
benchmark bonds fell to a record low on Tuesday as offshore
inflows continued to pour into the debt market, helping the rand
firm slightly.
The 2015 and 2021 bonds were trading at
a yield of 5.89 percent and 7.07 percent respectively, their
lowest levels since they were issued.
Yields also edged lower at a debt auction on Tuesday in
which the Treasury sold a total of 2.1 billion rand of its 2018
, 2031 and 2023 bonds
.
The approaching inclusion of South African bonds in the
Citigroup World Government Bond Index on Oct. 1 has heightened
foreign investor interest in the bond market in the last few
months.
“We’re still seeing a lot of inflows into the bond market,”
said Warrick Butler, a trader at Standard Bank. “There’s so much
investment in the bond market because of the WGBI in October.”
The rand firmed by 0.2 percent to 8.2040 to the
dollar at 1536 GMT, from a close of 8.2195 on Monday. It hit a
session high of 8.1595.
(Reporting by Tosin Sulaiman; editing by Ron Askew)
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