Rand erases decline

Published Mar 20, 2013

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Cape Town - The rand erased declines against the dollar, bonds fell and interest-rate swap yields surged to eight-month highs after inflation accelerated more than economists estimated.

South Africa’s currency traded less than 0.1 percent stronger at 9.2435 per dollar as of 10:11 a.m. in Johannesburg after declining as much as 0.3 percent in earlier trading.

Yields on 13.5 percent bonds due March 2015 climbed three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 5.47 percent.

Yields on two-year interest-rate swaps, used to lock in borrowing costs, rose seven basis points to 5.36 percent, the highest since July.

The consumer inflation rate rose to 5.9 percent in February from 5.4 percent the month before, Statistics South Africa said on its website today.

That beat the 5.6 percent median estimate of 19 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will leave its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 5 percent after meeting today, according to a separate survey. - Bloomberg News

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