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Rand gets a slight reprieve

Johannesburg - The rand strengthened against the dollar on Wednesday, tracking firmer emerging markets as the local unit looked abroad for impetus to take it through immediate resistance levels.

Most emerging market currencies tracked by Reuters made gains against the greenback as the risk of immediate war in Ukraine eased.

At 16:20 GMT, the rand was half a percent stronger at 10.7110 to the dollar, from a close of R10.7650/$ in New York on Tuesday. It earlier hit a session high of R10.6920/$.

"The Ukraine situation seems to be settling and equity markets are doing well so the rand is pretty happy with that," a Johannesburg-based currency trader said.

The rand shrugged off news that wage talks between the world's top platinum producers and South Africa's Association of Mineworkers and Construction workers Union (Amcu) collapsed on Wednesday.

The announcement diminishes hopes that the six-week strike could be nearing an end, even after Amcu gave a concession and revised its demands on Tuesday.

The next key level for the rand to break is last week's high of R10.6570/$, which would open up multi-month highs.

Dealers said this could be tested in the next day if risk sentiment towards emerging markets does not turn sour.

Government bonds held firm, with yields down 2 basis points at 8.565% on the benchmark 2026 issue and dropped 5 basis points to 7.08% on the 2015 note.

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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.45
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.35
+0.0%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
904.58
+0.9%
Palladium
1,012.82
+1.1%
Gold
2,219.17
+1.1%
Silver
24.82
+0.7%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.9%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.9%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
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