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Johannesburg - The rand on Monday climbed to its strongest against the dollar in more than three weeks, helped, like other emerging currencies, by cautious optimism that talks aimed at averting a Greek debt default will succeed.
Traders said domestic news headlines were taking a back seat for the moment, although investors would keep a close eye on just-started wage negotiations in the troubled gold mining sector as well as ongoing power shortages.
The rand climbed to a session high of R12.0840 to the greenback, its strongest since May 28, and was up 0.56% at R12.1110 by 15:02 GMT compared with Friday's close.
Government bonds followed suit with the yield for paper maturing in 2026, the market benchmark, closing 8 basis points lower at 8.3%.
"I think there's just a bit of a risk-on feel to the market as the whole Greek thing is trundling along," said Rand Merchant Bank trader Jim Bryson, referring to a new Greek offer for a cash-for-reforms deal which raised hopes of an agreement with creditors.
"We are in the hands of the Europeans and if there's a bit of a disaster tonight (with debt talks) what that would mean for emerging markets is most probably negative."
Barring any negative news, the rand could test the R12.0600/$ mark after taking out the technically key R12.1800/$ level last week.
