South Africa’s rand stabilised near a five-week high early on Tuesday, as a weaker dollar and a pullback in U.S. bond yields lifted demand for riskier but high-yielding currencies.
At 0610 GMT, the rand traded at 14.5600 against the U.S. dollar, largely unchanged from its previous close. The currency hit a five-week high of 14.5250 on Monday.
TreasuryONE currency strategist Andre Cilliers attributed the gains to weakness in the U.S. dollar.
The dollar stabilised near an almost two-week low versus a basket of its peers, even as data showed a gauge of U.S. services activity hit a record high in March and Friday’s bumper jobs report opened a cautious door to questions as to how much further the greenback and U.S. yields can go.
The rand is expected to take cues from global market events, in the absence of market-moving local news.
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2030 was down 3 basis points at 9.535% in early deals. – Reuters