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Johannesburg - The rand traded close to a 6-week high versus the dollar on Tuesday, with little domestic impetus to break out of current ranges as investors looked to Wednesday's US Federal Reserve policy statement for direction.
By 08:39 the local unit was at R10.9500 to the greenback, barely changed from Monday's close at R10.9410.
On the debt market, the yield for the 2026 secondary market benchmark dipped 1.5 basis points to 7.925% ahead of the weekly Treasury auction for R2.35bn of paper.
The rand has been on a firmer footing since Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene vowed to rein in South Africa's budget deficit, a commitment analysts said could successfully dissuade ratings agencies from downgrading the country.
Traders said markets were now focused on the Fed's statement, where it will probably announce the end of its massive bond-buying programme while signalling that it is not yet ready to start raising interest rates.
"Today we may get some minor insight into overall market positioning ahead of the Fed statement tomorrow evening with the release this afternoon of the US durable goods orders data as well as the US consumer confidence index," Standard Bank trader Warrick Butler said.
"If we get strong numbers and the dollar fails to rally again, I think it will be safe to assume then that the market may be too long of dollars and we may therefore get a deeper correction after Wednesday’s announcement."
