Rand holds near 3-week highs on Fed relief

The market interpreted minutes released on Wednesday night of the Fed's last meeting as indicative of continued accommodative monetary policy, suggesting high-yielding emerging market assets would still be in demand for investors.

The rand held near three-week highs around R11.0300 against the dollar.

Analysts said the unit was likely to stabilise after strengthening this week from an eight-month low. If it manages to firm past R11.0300, it could break through the psychologically important R11 barrier before finding resistance at the R10.9890 high from September 19.

Domestic focus will be on industrial output data expected later in the session. Mining production, due at 09:30 GMT, is expected to have continued contracting in August, although not as much as in July.

Manufacturing, the second biggest sector in the economy, is also expected to recover from a nearly 8% contraction in July. Economists have forecast a 3.2% shrinkage in August.

Domestic bonds tracked US Treasuries, and the benchmark 2026 yield dropped 8.5 basis points to 8.065%, its lowest since September 8.