Johannesburg - The rand was steady near a two-week high early
on Monday, starting the week on the front foot after better-than-expected US
payrolls data on Friday boosted riskier assets.
The unit is likely to have a quiet but firmer session on
Monday with no data expected until Tuesday.
The rand was at R8.1330 at 06:10 GMT, compared to a R8.1351
close on Friday. It needs to break through resistance around R8.1148, its
100-day moving average, to open up the big R8.06 barrier last hit in early
July.
“Markets have rallied quiet hard on the back of the
better-than-expected non-farm payroll data from Friday. All risk appetite is
back on,” said Brigid Taylor, head of institutional sales at Nedbank.
Offshore investors are buying local bonds after a sell-off
two weeks ago. Yields were steady at Friday’s closing levels, waiting for
clearer moves from the currency but the bias was for lower yields in the
session.
The 2015 yield was at 5.44% while the 2026 held at 7.275%.
“There's foreign demand again. We can expect to see support
of the likes of South Africa and other emerging markets that offer value, and
from that perspective we can expect the rand to remain relatively strong,”
Nedbank’s Taylor said.
Early on Tuesday the central bank will release its latest
reserves data. July numbers are expected to show slightly more gold and foreign
exchange was accumulated by the Reserve Bank compared with the previous month.
The data is due at 06:00 GMT.