Rand steady, focus on Greek debt hopes

Johannesburg - The rand steadied against the dollar early on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank said a domestic interest rate cut is unlikely and hopes for progress in Greek debt talks boosted sentiment.

At 08:11 the rand was trading at R12.1935/$, not far off its Tuesday New York closing level of R12.1980.

"The rand continued firmer overnight as greenback struggled to regain traction and after (the central bank) revealed that cut in domestic interest rates is unlikely despite poor growth prospects," NKC African Economics said in a note.

It added: "US jobs data starts coming out today and will likely dominate rand movements for rest of week, although a deal in Greece talks may give emerging market currencies boost."

The South African Reserve Bank said in its latest monetary policy review on Tuesday that an interest rate cut in the near future is unlikely despite poor growth prospects due to mounting inflation pressures.

Data on the latest South Africa's business confidence and HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is due later in the day.

In fixed income, the yield for the 2026 benchmark fell 2 basis points to 8.295%.