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Johannesburg - The rand traded sideways against the dollar on Thursday after falling to fresh six year lows the day before, with the market bracing for a downgrade when Fitch and Standard & Poor's review SA's credit rating this week.
Government bonds yields hovered near Wednesday's multi-week highs, with latest data from the JSE securities exchange showing foreigners sold nearly R2bn of local debt in the previous session.
At 09:00 the rand traded at R11.5285 to the greenback, barely changed from its close at R11.5375 in New York.
The rand was within easy reach of Wednesday's low of R11.6000, its weakest since October 2008, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The yield for the government bond maturing in 2026, which the secondary market uses as a benchmark, dipped half a basis point to 7.945%, after climbing to a month high of 8.005% in the session before.
The rand has underperformed its emerging market peers this week, as a yawning current account deficit and a flare up in power shortages underline the weak growth prospects for Africa's most advanced economy.
This has raised fears that Fitch might downgrade Pretoria on Friday, following similar recent moves by fellow ratings agencies Standard and Poor's and Moody's.
"We expect these ... concerns to remain front of mind for the remainder of the week," Barclays Africa said in a note.
