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Rand at week low ahead of data

Johannesburg - The rand weakened against the dollar on Tuesday, tracking the euro lower amid broadly poor investor sentiment towards emerging markets.

The rand has been retreating from two-month highs hit last week as tensions in Ukraine rumble on and as investors worry about a slowdown in China, a major consumer of South Africa's commodities exports.

Comments from the European Central Bank that the market missed its message that it could still act to stimulate the economy depressed the euro.

By 15:29 GMT on Tuesday, the rand was down half a percent against the dollar at R10.8030/$. It weakened to a week low of R10.8290/$ earlier in the session.

"Ahead of the local Q4 current account data on Wednesday, the global backdrop will continue to drive foreign exchange momentum," said Anisha Arora, emerging market analyst at 4Cast.

"Focus is on the prevailing tensions before Crimea's referendum on March 16, and further comments from the ECB on deflation."

South Africa is due to release current account data for the fourth quarter of last year at 0800 GMT on Wednesday. The market expects the gap on the account to have narrowed in the last months of 2013.

A wider-than-expected shortfall will add to pressure on the rand.

The currency is also contending with the risk of more power cuts after state power company Eskom imposed rolling outages last week, adding to concerns about a seven-week strike in the platinum mines, where talks with mining firms have deadlocked.

Yields on government bonds nudged higher, with that on the benchmark 2026 bond up 1 basis point at 8.56%.

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Rand - Dollar
19.09
-1.0%
Rand - Pound
24.05
-0.7%
Rand - Euro
20.58
-0.5%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.39
-0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.9%
Platinum
894.64
-0.3%
Palladium
992.99
-0.9%
Gold
2,197.50
+0.1%
Silver
24.44
-0.8%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
67,880
+0.3%
All Share
74,091
+0.3%
Resource 10
56,315
+1.2%
Industrial 25
103,611
+0.3%
Financial 15
16,459
-0.4%
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