Johannesburg - The rand softened against the dollar on
Thursday in thin post-holiday trade, underperforming many emerging market
currencies.
The rand was at R8.5168 to the dollar at 06:51 GMT, 0.3%
weaker than Wednesday's New York close, making it one of the worst performers
in a basket of 20 emerging market currencies monitored by Reuters.
It had reached a 3-month high of R8.42 to the dollar early
on Wednesday, lifted by US lawmakers reaching a deal to avoid a "fiscal
cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts that threatened the world's
biggest economy.
The rand erased most of those gains later in the session.
Trading was expected to pick up next week when most market
participants return from their holidays, giving the rand some direction.
"There's still a holiday mentality out there and
liquidity has been very thin. The rand has been trading erratically," said
one trader.
"We will only start seeing proper trades coming back
into the market next week when market participants are back again."
The yield on the 2026 government bond was at 7.25% while the
2015 issue was yielding 5.33%.
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