CAPE TOWN – South Africa dollar-denominated debt trimmed losses across the curve on Tuesday after President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed former central bank governor Tito Mboweni as Finance Minister, according to a Reuters report.
The 2044 and 2041 issues traded around 0.5 cents lower, after having lost nearly 0.8 cents earlier in the day, according to Tradeweb data. Shorter-dated bonds erased nearly all their losses to trade almost flat on the day.
Meanwhile, the rand strengthened 31c to R14.75 just minutes before the announcement from an intra-day weakness of R15.06.
At 5pm the rand strengthened 11c to R14.76 from Monday's 5pm bid of 14.87, immediately after the announcement where he, with immediate effect, replaced Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with Mboweni.
President Ramaphosa made this announcement during a public statement on Tuesday on developments emanating from the recent testimony of Minister of Finance Mr Nhlanhla Nene before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Nene was reported on Monday to have asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to be let go as Finance Minister, dragging the rand to its weakest levels in a month near R15 a dollar.
The domestic currency, which was under pressure for the better part of the day, brushed off the reports remaining range-bound with a wider focus on global markets data.
A Twitter poll by Business Report on whether President Cyril Ramaphosa should accept Nene's request to step down as the finance minister and have him replaced with somebody else found that the nation was divided.
According to the BR poll, 51 percent of voters thought that Nene should be replaced or sacked while 49 percent of those who voted felt that Ramaphosa should stick with Nene as the country's finance boss.