Rand firms, stocks to open higher

Johannesburg - The rand rallied along with other emerging market currencies on Thursday as weak US data sent a flood of dollars into the market on expectations US rate hikes could be pushed back.

By 08:52 the rand was trading at R13.1500/$, up 0.58% from Wednesday's New York close. It stood at R13.13 at 09:47.

Government bonds were mixed, while the blue-chip Top 40 futures index was up 0.56%.

"Risk-on is the game and most equity markets and risk currencies have been gaining. The rand has been pulled along in the pack," said John Cairns, a currency strategist at Rand Merchant Bank.

The local currency benefited from a weak dollar after weak US data led investors to believe that the Federal Reserve will not hike interest rates anytime soon.

"Once again it seems that we will be living from Fed meeting to Fed meeting, and US data point to data point," said Cairns.

Rand investors will have US inflation data to digest later.

In government bonds, yields were mixed, with the paper maturing in 2026 unchanged to 8.235%.