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Rand slips, stocks weaker

Johannesburg - The rand weakened by more than half a percent on Thursday as the dollar extended gains on the back of a slide in global oil prices.

Stocks declined a fourth straight day as mobile operator MTN weighed on the bourse.

By 12:30 the rand had slipped 0.61% to R15.6510 per dollar, a new 2½ week low as demand for the greenback and thin-trade ahead of the long New Year's Day weekend put the local unit on the backfoot.

Yields on government bonds rose sharply, with the benchmark 2026 issue adding 12.5% to 9.77%.

The rand is on track to end 2015 more than 35% weaker against the dollar, with Africa's most advanced economy battered by severe electricity shortages, drought and the shock removal of the finance minister in the past 12 months.

While the unit has back-pedalled for most of 2015 as the spectre of rising interest rates in the United States weighed on emerging market currencies across the board, it took its heavy knock when president Jacob Zuma fired widely-respected Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister earlier in December.

The rand sank to a record-low R16.0485 shortly after the shock sacking as investors balked at the appearance of political interference in the Treasury.

Yields on government and foreign currency bonds soared as the massive sell-off of South African assets and political fallout that ensued eventually saw President Jacob Zuma hire former Fiance Minster Pravin Gordhan to the post, a move that eased the selloff.

On the bourse trade was feeble as the JSE closed early, as scheduled, at 12:00. Around 60 million shares changed hands on the stock market, according to preliminary bourse data, well below last year's daily average of 183 million shares.

MTN was the biggest loser among the blue chips, shedding 4.17% to close on R132.89.

The benchmark Top-40 index declined 0.23% to 45 797.30 points, but gained 4.6% in 2015.

The broader All-share index receded 0.22% to 50 693.76 points on Thursday, closing the year 1.87% higher.

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Rand - Dollar
18.89
+0.3%
Rand - Pound
23.87
+0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.38
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.32
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
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