Johannesburg - The rand softened against the dollar on
Tuesday amid fears of more trouble in the mining sector after Anglo Platinum [JSE:AMS]
said workers at its Rustenburg operations were likely to stay away following
violence the previous day.
The rand was at R8.9100 against the dollar at 06:21 GMT,
0.2% softer than New York's Monday close, with analysts seeing the currency
testing the R8.95 level during the session.
"It's all on what has happened at Amplats. That is
driving it at the moment. Sentiment is not good," said David Gracey, a
trader at Investec in Johannesburg.
Workers at the world's largest platinum producer are likely
to stay away from work on Tuesday in solidarity with colleagues injured in
clashes between rival union factions, the company said.
At least 13 workers were wounded by rubber bullets or
machetes on Monday, the first major mine violence this year after deadly strife
in the sector in 2012.
Market participants will also watch the Treasury sale of
R2.1bn spread over the 2031, 2036 and 2048 government bonds. The sale is due at
09:00 GMT.
More important for the bonds will be the release of
inflation statistics on Wednesday, with economists seeing the January
year-on-year consumer inflation figure flat at 5.7%.
Government bonds also softened, with the yield on the three
year issue up one basis points to 5.36% and that on the longer dated 14-year
paper up half a basis point to 7.32%.
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