Johannesburg - The rand held steady against the dollar on Friday, lacking momentum to break through a key resistance area at the R10.30 level after a rally in the previous session.
The rand traded at R10.3400 to the dollar at 0618 GMT, off a R10.3280 close in New York on Thursday.
The unit was coming off a week high hit the previous session after a Reserve Bank monetary policy statement that investors perceived as hawkish.
The bank kept interest rates unchanged at 5.5% but reiterated that it was still in a tightening cycle. Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said two of the seven MPC members had voted to raise interest rates.
The combination of Marcus' hawkish comments and global appetite for high yielding assets buoyed the rand.
With little scheduled on the local and global calendar, the rand may struggle to take meaningful strides past its previous high.
"Given the lack of follow-through in dollar/rand, and with the US and UK heading into long weekends, we are settling for a continuation of the recent consolidation near term," said Judy Padayachee, technical strategist for Barclays Africa.
"We are watching the 10.45 and 10.27 levels into month-end."
Yields on government bonds nudged down half a basis point to 8.02% on the benchmark 2026 issue.
South Africa has offered R800m in 2025, 2038 and 2050 inflation-linked bonds at 09:00 GMT.
The rand traded at R10.3400 to the dollar at 0618 GMT, off a R10.3280 close in New York on Thursday.
The unit was coming off a week high hit the previous session after a Reserve Bank monetary policy statement that investors perceived as hawkish.
The bank kept interest rates unchanged at 5.5% but reiterated that it was still in a tightening cycle. Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said two of the seven MPC members had voted to raise interest rates.
The combination of Marcus' hawkish comments and global appetite for high yielding assets buoyed the rand.
With little scheduled on the local and global calendar, the rand may struggle to take meaningful strides past its previous high.
"Given the lack of follow-through in dollar/rand, and with the US and UK heading into long weekends, we are settling for a continuation of the recent consolidation near term," said Judy Padayachee, technical strategist for Barclays Africa.
"We are watching the 10.45 and 10.27 levels into month-end."
Yields on government bonds nudged down half a basis point to 8.02% on the benchmark 2026 issue.
South Africa has offered R800m in 2025, 2038 and 2050 inflation-linked bonds at 09:00 GMT.