South African bonds remained firm but were off their best levels in late afternoon trade on Thursday on the back of a weaker rand.
“The US jobless claims were better than expected‚ so that boosted the dollar and the rand slumped. Despite that our bonds are only off marginally in the afternoon‚” a local trader said.
At 15:47‚ the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 5.810 percent from Wednesday’s close of 5.870 percent. The R207 was trading at 6.850 percent from a previous close of 6.900 percent and the R186 was trading at 7.670 percent from its previous close of 7.730 percent.
At the end of May the R157 closed at 6.390 percent‚ the R207 at 7.645 percent and the R186 at 8.375 percent.
The rand was bid at R8.3571 against the dollar from R8.3251 at noon‚ a best level of R8.1592 on Wednesday‚ its close on Wednesday of R8.2371 and Tuesday’s close of R8.2103.
Taxpayers, already groaning under their tax burden, are not looking forward to the budget speech.
An affordable, private health care plan for domestic workers is sustainable, CareCross Health Group said.
SA consumers used less electricity last year as the price of power more than doubled in three years.
