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Johannesburg - The rand held steady against the dollar in afternoon trade on Friday, looking to the close the session within the week's range, as a global emerging market sell-off halted rand bulls.
At 15:43 GMT the rand was at R10.4700/$, in line with its New York close on Thursday.
The South African currency has been pulling back from three-month highs hit in the previous session as emerging markets come under pressure after a fall in global equities made investors wary of riskier assets.
The dollar's safe-haven status put most of the emerging market units tracked by Reuters on the backfoot against the greenback on Friday.
Analysts said dollar/rand should consolidate at these levels into next week. It is expected to find support around 10.62, where it was supported from the end of March into early April.
"The dollar/rand cross closely tracks the dollar index and given thinner liquidly ahead of the long Easter weekend, euro resilience will remain a positive risk factor for the rand, should we see greater moves," said Anisha Arora, emerging market analyst at 4Cast.
The trading week will be shortened by the Easter holiday next Friday.
Yields on government bonds retreated with the weaker rand, giving up 7.5 basis points to 6.72% on the 2015 note and 7 basis points on the benchmark 2026 issue.
At 15:43 GMT the rand was at R10.4700/$, in line with its New York close on Thursday.
The South African currency has been pulling back from three-month highs hit in the previous session as emerging markets come under pressure after a fall in global equities made investors wary of riskier assets.
The dollar's safe-haven status put most of the emerging market units tracked by Reuters on the backfoot against the greenback on Friday.
Analysts said dollar/rand should consolidate at these levels into next week. It is expected to find support around 10.62, where it was supported from the end of March into early April.
"The dollar/rand cross closely tracks the dollar index and given thinner liquidly ahead of the long Easter weekend, euro resilience will remain a positive risk factor for the rand, should we see greater moves," said Anisha Arora, emerging market analyst at 4Cast.
The trading week will be shortened by the Easter holiday next Friday.
Yields on government bonds retreated with the weaker rand, giving up 7.5 basis points to 6.72% on the 2015 note and 7 basis points on the benchmark 2026 issue.
