* Rand and bonds unmoved
* Eskom bond auction the main focus
JOHANNESBURG, March 28 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand was
little-changed overnight against the dollar on Wednesday, with
traders taking few risks the day ahead of a local monetary
policy decision expected to set the tone for interest rates for
the year.
The rand was trading at 7.6185 to the dollar at
0708 GMT, 0.1 percent weaker than Tuesday’s New York close of
7.6075.
Economists surveyed by Reuters see the repo rate unchanged
at Thursday’s meeting. The benchmark has been kept at a
historical low of 5.5 percent to bolster economic growth since
the end of 2010.
Apart from power utility Eskom’s auction of 200 million rand
of its 2026 and 2022 bonds at 0900 GMT, little action is
expected out of local markets.
“Eskom will provide some excitement today with its small
issue of 200 million rand across the ES23/E26 bonds,” Rand
Merchant Bank said in note. “With MPC looming, we don’t expect
too much activity for the rest of the trading day.”
Yields on the two main benchmark government bonds were up
just one basis point, with that on the three-year bond
at 6.80 percent and that on the 14-year note at 8.44
percent.
The stock market opened a shade weaker, with the blue-chip
Top-40 index down 0.24 percent shortly after the 0700
GMT start of trade.
(Reporting by Vuyani Ndaba; Editing by Ed Cropley)
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