Sitting Tight Amid South Africa Bond Selloff Reaped Best Reward

(Bloomberg) -- In the week that foreign investors dumped the most South African bonds since the financial crisis, those who sat tight reaped the best carry return in emerging markets.

Non-residents sold a net 15 billion rand ($1.23 billion) of South African bonds in the five days ending May 11, the most since the week ending October 24, 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rand’s carry return in the period was 2.1 percent, more than double that of the second-placed ruble.

Higher U.S. treasury yields and global risk-off sentiment have attracted money to the dollar, with emerging-market assets seeing the biggest outflows since 2016 in the week ending May 9, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Still, the strengthening rand and yields among the highest in emerging markets made the South African debt a good bet, according to Nedbank Group Ltd.

“Real yields are still fairly attractive for foreign investors and when global tensions do ease, flows may normalize,” said Reezwana Sumad, a Johannesburg-based analyst at Nedbank.

The rand was little changed at 12.2601 per dollar by 1:54 p.m. in Johannesburg after gaining 2 percent last week. The currency may strengthen to 11.50 over the next six months, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which recommended on May 9 shorting the greenback against the rand, targeting a return of 10 percent.

To contact the reporters on this story: Colleen Goko in Johannesburg at cgoko2@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels in Johannesburg at vwessels@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Robert Brand

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