{"id":817699,"date":"2025-03-19T15:11:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T13:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=817699"},"modified":"2025-03-20T17:17:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T15:17:28","slug":"update-bloomberg-retracts-incorrect-story-on-south-african-bonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/817699\/update-bloomberg-retracts-incorrect-story-on-south-african-bonds\/","title":{"rendered":"[Update] Bloomberg retracts incorrect story on South African bonds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Update:<\/strong> Bloomberg has retracted the story published on March 19 that incorrectly cited filings as showing Franklin Resources, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo had been selling their South African bond holdings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The reporting did not meet Bloomberg\u2019s editorial standards. We regret the error,” Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Original story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franklin Resources, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. are among institutional investors that have dumped South African bonds this quarter, fueling outflows at a rate not seen since before the May elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Mateo, California-based Franklin cut its debt holdings by 9% to R12.9 billion ($709 million), according to an 18 March filing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JPMorgan trimmed its position by 6%, while Wells Fargo reduced its holdings by more than half, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government bonds have declined this year as South Africa\u2019s relations with the US soured, sparking speculation that the country may lose its preferential status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, a trade accord covering about $3.6 billion of its exports to the US. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has already suspended aid to South Africa over its alleged ties with Iran and support for the Palestinian cause and expelled the country\u2019s ambassador for calling Trump a \u201csupremacist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvestors are sweating bullets, thinking Trump\u2019s going to swing the AGOA axe over our rocky US ties,\u201d said Kristof Kruger, a fixed-income trader at Prescient Securities Sellers \u201care likely dodging sanctions or trade hits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to JSE data, foreign investors sold about R16.1 billion in March. Daily net sales averaged R1.8 billion over the past 30 days, a pace last seen before the 29 May election in which the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Warrick Butler, head of foreign exchange trading at Standard Bank, part of the reason the rand has strengthened this month is that foreign investors selling the bonds are also unwinding their currency hedges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOffshore selling has driven the price action in government bonds over the past few days, given the divergence between bonds and the currency,\u201d said Michelle Wohlberg, a fixed-income analyst at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investors are also concerned about South Africa\u2019s fiscal outlook; according to Adam Furlan, a portfolio manager at the South African unit of Ninety One Members, the governing coalition has rejected tax increases in the budget, raising concern over a potential increase in borrowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, domestic investors have stepped in to buy the bonds, with bids at Tuesday\u2019s weekly auction for more than four times the amount on sale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanlam, Standard Bank and Coronation Fund Managers are among the biggest holders of the debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Not all foreign investors have been sellers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allianz remains the second-biggest single holder, boosting its holdings by 13% to R77.5 billion, according to an 18 March filing. Blackrock, in a filing on the same date, reported lifting its holdings by 13% to R44.9 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe expect the budget process will be resolved with some compromises,\u201d Furlan said. Ninety One has lifted its holdings of the bonds by 4.5% to about R59.5 billion, according to the firm\u2019s latest filing on 31 January, making it the third-largest holder of the debt,  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe overarching theme of debt consolidation will be maintained and is a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bloomberg has retracted the story published on March 19 that incorrectly cited filings as showing Franklin Resources, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo had been selling their South African bond holdings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":817703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[10614,5076,13998,22085,22086,19703,853,499,22088],"class_list":["post-817699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-allianz","tag-blackrock","tag-coronation-fund-managers","tag-franklin-resources","tag-jpmorgan-chase-co-2","tag-ninety-one-2","tag-south-africa","tag-standard-bank","tag-wells-fargo-co-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817699"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":817824,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817699\/revisions\/817824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}