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Johannesburg - The rand strengthened 2% against the dollar during the afternoon on Monday as concerns over a failed coup attempt in Turkey eased and investors sought out higher returns in emerging markets.
By late afternoon, the rand traded at R14.267 versus the dollar, 2% stronger than last Friday's close.
Stocks ended slightly lower with gold shares among the biggest decliners as traders pared their safe-haven holdings after Turkey's government said it was in control of the country and the economy.
"We believe it is an exaggeration to believe the political noise in Turkey may affect the general price dynamics in other major emerging markets, especially the high-yielding ones," Citi said in a note.
Foreign investors have been net buyers of South African assets so far this year, splashing out nearly R115bn on bonds and equities, a near two-fold increase on the same time a year go.
On the debt market, government bonds weakened, with the yield for benchmark 2026 debt down 12 basis point to 8.85%.
On the bourse, the blue-chip JSE Top-40 index edged down 0.05% at 46 431 and the broader All-share index lost 0.08% to 53 046.
Volumes were low with 152 million shares changing hands, about half last year's average daily trading volumes of 296 million shares.
AngloGold Ashanti dropped 1.65% at R299.06 and rival Harmony Gold was 1.8% lower at R63.22.
Spot gold fell to a session low of $1 323.43 an ounce and was down 0.7% at $1 327.11 by 15:29 GMT. Bullion fell over 2% last week, its first weekly decline in seven weeks, as investors piled cash into riskier assets.
