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Johannesburg - The rand edged up against the dollar on Wednesday as investors took a breather before a hearing for incoming US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Thursday.
The rand was at R10.3450/$ at 1508 GMT, up 0.2% from Tuesday's New York close.
It weakened to an 11-month low earlier on Tuesday as better-than-expected US jobs data the previous week raised expectations that the Fed would start tapering its quantitative easing programme sooner rather than later.
A Senate confirmation hearing for Yellen, nominated to replace Ben Bernanke as chair of the Fed, will be closely watched for further comments on the central bank's ultra-easy monetary policy.
"At the moment, people are just squaring up ahead of what is a very important testimony for the next Fed governor to see if there's mention of tapering," a trader said.
The yield on the 2026 government bond fell 11.5 basis points to 8.215% while that on the 2015 paper dropped 11 basis points to 6.145%.
The rand was at R10.3450/$ at 1508 GMT, up 0.2% from Tuesday's New York close.
It weakened to an 11-month low earlier on Tuesday as better-than-expected US jobs data the previous week raised expectations that the Fed would start tapering its quantitative easing programme sooner rather than later.
A Senate confirmation hearing for Yellen, nominated to replace Ben Bernanke as chair of the Fed, will be closely watched for further comments on the central bank's ultra-easy monetary policy.
"At the moment, people are just squaring up ahead of what is a very important testimony for the next Fed governor to see if there's mention of tapering," a trader said.
The yield on the 2026 government bond fell 11.5 basis points to 8.215% while that on the 2015 paper dropped 11 basis points to 6.145%.
