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Rand firms, frail economy poses a risk

Johannesburg - The rand firmed against the dollar in early trade on Thursday, recovering from a nearly 4-week low hit in the previous session, but analysts said concerns about the ailing economy still posed a risk.

At 08:50, the rand had traded at R14.7700/$, 1.6% firmer from Wednesday's New York close of 15.0150, which was its weakest level since April 8, according to Thomson Reuters data.

However, the unit was far off a five-month high of 14.1165 touched on Friday as risk sentiment remained sour with slow global growth.

"ZAR breached R15.0000/$ for first time in more than 3 weeks during New York trade, but managed to overturn some losses thereafter. Relief rally has hit speed bump and if US jobs data beat expectations tomorrow local unit might be in for more pain," NKC African Economics said in a note.

"Expected range on rand today: R14.75/$ to R15.10/$."

A stronger outcome to the US jobs data could increase the chances of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, lending some support to the dollar.

Stocks were set to open lower at 09:00, with the JSE securities exchange's Top-40 futures index down 0.33%.

In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was down 4 basis points to 9.145%.

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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.45
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.35
+0.0%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
904.58
+0.9%
Palladium
1,012.82
+1.1%
Gold
2,219.05
+1.1%
Silver
24.81
+0.7%
Brent-ruolie
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.9%
Resource 10
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Industrial 25
103,936
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Financial 15
16,502
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