Johannesburg - The rand remained on the defensive against
the dollar on Monday after hitting a one-and-a-half week low last Friday, with
potential for further losses as the looming US election keeps investors nervous
about policies in the world's biggest economy.
The rand was at R8.7675 against the dollar at 06:43 GMT,
0.12% weaker than Friday's close at R8.7570.
The domestic unit slumped more than 1.2% on Friday to its
softest level since October 24 as better-than-expected US jobs data boosted the
greenback.
Local strikes which have hit output in the world's biggest
producer of platinum and a key gold producer are still on investors' minds, but
should take a back seat this week to the US vote and other global events in
driving the rand.
" We've got quite a big week this week with the US elections,
Chinese elections and the potential for Greece to vote around its bailout
package," said Brigid Taylor, head of institutional sales at Nedbank
"Unfortunately the gold price has also sold off and all
in all South Africa still remains under pressure. The rand could potentially
trade up as high as R8.85," Taylor added.
Government bonds weakened slightly, with yields on the
benchmark 14-year paper and the shorter-dated three year note each edging up
1.5 basis points to 7.7% and 5.48% respectively.