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More rand pressure 'for sure'

Johannesburg - The rand faltered against the dollar on Monday as investors braced for a new wave of labour unrest only a week after producers and miners finally reached agreement to end a crippling five-month platinum strike.

The local unit's losses were mitigated by a narrower-than-expected trade deficit of R6.57bn in May, from a R13.03bn shortfall in April.

But turbulence lies ahead as more than 220 000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) are due to strike on Tuesday after last-minute wage talks failed.

"Everybody's worried about it and the longer this strike continues, the more problematic it will be for the currency," Bidvest Bank chief dealer Ion de Vleeschauwer said.

The rand reversed Friday's modest gains and was down 0.45% at R10.6375 to the greenback by 19:05 compared with its last close in New York.

Government bonds were similarly weaker, with yields edging up 1.5 basis points each to 8.325% for the 2026 benchmark and 6.705% for the instrument due next year .

The rand's fall was tempered by dollar inflows from local companies repatriating foreign funds for their financial year-ends.

"From tomorrow onwards we'll see more rand pressure, that's for sure," De Vleeschauwer said.
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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,011.50
+1.0%
Gold
2,221.35
+1.2%
Silver
24.87
+0.9%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
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