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Johannesburg - The rand firmed against the US dollar on
Monday as weak economic growth figures from the world’s largest economy weighed
on the greenback.
The market is expected to be quiet with a national holiday
in South Africa on Tuesday.
The rand was trading at R7.7301 to the dollar at 06:24 GMT,
0.13% firmer than Friday’s close of R7.7401.
US economic growth likely cooled modestly in the first
quarter as replenishing of inventories by businesses slowed, though stronger
demand for automobiles and a lift to homebuilding from warm weather blunted the
blow.
“The poor US GDP print is still weighing on the dollar,”
said a Johannesburg rand trader.
“The dollar-rand should find support in the R7.72 and R7.70
area.”
In early data, credit growth in South Africa's private sector
accelerated faster-than-expected to 9.16% year-on-year in March compared with a
7.92% rise in February, while money supply growth quickened to 6.65%
year-on-year from 5.89% in February.
Government bond yields slid after the release of the data,
with the 2015 bond falling 2.5 basis points to 6.45% and that on the longer
dated 2026 note down two basis points to 8.16%.
The South African Revenue Service is due to release its
trade statistics later on Monday. Economists expect to see the trade account narrow
to a R4.25bn deficit in March compared to a R7.5bn deficit in February.
On the bourse, the JSE’s blue-chip Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] June futures contract was up 0.71% before the 07:00 GMT start of trade, pointing to a positive start.
