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Johannesburg - The rand firmed against the dollar on Monday as global markets were lifted by the prospect of ambitious economic reforms in China and continued US monetary stimulus.
The rand was at R10.1000/$ at 14:32 GMT, up 0.6% from Friday's New York close.
China's Communist Party on Friday announced some of its boldest economic reforms in three decades, pledging to let the market play a "decisive" role in the economy.
As rapid economic growth in China - South Africa's biggest trading partner - slows, the reforms are expected to put the world's second-largest economy on a more stable footing.
Expectations that the US Federal Reserve will start tapering its bond-buying stimulus in March 2014, rather than this year, have also supported risky assets like the rand.
South Africa's large current account and budget deficits have made it more reliant on offshore inflows.
"We've been seeing these emerging market currencies that were most vulnerable to negative sentiment starting to turn around," said ETM market analyst Sean McCalgan.
"They tend to rely a lot on external financing. Now that that is turning more in their favour, the rand, alongside some of the typically risky emerging market currencies have a tendency to perform a bit better in the short term."
Locally, the market will be looking ahead to the release of October consumer inflation data on Wednesday, while the South African Reserve Bank will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday.
The bank is expected to hold its repo rate at 5%.
The yield on the 2026 government bond was flat at 8.095% while the yield on the 2015 paper dropped 6 basis points to 5.975%.
The rand was at R10.1000/$ at 14:32 GMT, up 0.6% from Friday's New York close.
China's Communist Party on Friday announced some of its boldest economic reforms in three decades, pledging to let the market play a "decisive" role in the economy.
As rapid economic growth in China - South Africa's biggest trading partner - slows, the reforms are expected to put the world's second-largest economy on a more stable footing.
Expectations that the US Federal Reserve will start tapering its bond-buying stimulus in March 2014, rather than this year, have also supported risky assets like the rand.
South Africa's large current account and budget deficits have made it more reliant on offshore inflows.
"We've been seeing these emerging market currencies that were most vulnerable to negative sentiment starting to turn around," said ETM market analyst Sean McCalgan.
"They tend to rely a lot on external financing. Now that that is turning more in their favour, the rand, alongside some of the typically risky emerging market currencies have a tendency to perform a bit better in the short term."
Locally, the market will be looking ahead to the release of October consumer inflation data on Wednesday, while the South African Reserve Bank will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday.
The bank is expected to hold its repo rate at 5%.
The yield on the 2026 government bond was flat at 8.095% while the yield on the 2015 paper dropped 6 basis points to 5.975%.
