SA Eurobonds fall, rand suffers on fears of worsening load shedding
South Africa’s international bonds and the rand came under fresh pressure on Wednesday as fears grew of scheduled blackouts known as load shedding worsening over winter.
Longer-dated sovereign dollar-bonds fell the most, with the 2052 maturity dropping more than 1 cent to 82.4 cents in the dollar. The yield rose above 9%, its highest level in almost six months.
In early trade the rand weakened to a three-year low of R18.83 against the dollar.
South Africa’s struggling state utility Eskom told parliament on Tuesday that there would be a 45-day delay in returning a generating unit online, adding further pressure to the grid during winter when scheduled power cuts across most of the country are already more than 10 hours a day.