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Johannesburg - The rand turned firmer against the dollar in afternoon trade on Friday as global risk aversion eased, giving respite to emerging markets that took the rand towards R10.90/% resistance.
The rand strengthened to R10.9275/$ at 15:03 GMT, compared to a R10.9950/$ close in New York on Thursday.
Dealers said trade was less choppy than in previous sessions on Friday as the political crisis in Ukraine came to some resolution, which lifted emerging market assets.
"While emerging market specific factors offer the rand momentum today, it is still the external backdrop that drives the dollar/rand in the bigger picture, so longs are getting cut ahead of the weekend," said Anisha Arora, emerging market strategist for 4Cast.
The rand's gains will need to break through resistance at the R10.90/$ level to signal a convincing turn to a firmer path.
However, violence in the mines may put a lid on the rand's gains as investors worry about a repeat of the August 2012 clashes where police shot dead 34 striking miners at Lonmin's Marikana mine, South Africa's bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid nearly two decades ago.
On Friday, government bonds turned firmer with the rand, with the yield on 2015 note previously hardest hit by a weak rand, giving up two basis points to 7.33%, while the 2026 benchmark yield fell one basis point to 8.655%.
The rand strengthened to R10.9275/$ at 15:03 GMT, compared to a R10.9950/$ close in New York on Thursday.
Dealers said trade was less choppy than in previous sessions on Friday as the political crisis in Ukraine came to some resolution, which lifted emerging market assets.
"While emerging market specific factors offer the rand momentum today, it is still the external backdrop that drives the dollar/rand in the bigger picture, so longs are getting cut ahead of the weekend," said Anisha Arora, emerging market strategist for 4Cast.
The rand's gains will need to break through resistance at the R10.90/$ level to signal a convincing turn to a firmer path.
However, violence in the mines may put a lid on the rand's gains as investors worry about a repeat of the August 2012 clashes where police shot dead 34 striking miners at Lonmin's Marikana mine, South Africa's bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid nearly two decades ago.
On Friday, government bonds turned firmer with the rand, with the yield on 2015 note previously hardest hit by a weak rand, giving up two basis points to 7.33%, while the 2026 benchmark yield fell one basis point to 8.655%.
