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Johannesburg - The rand touched fresh 2-week lows against the dollar on Monday and could lose further ground as the greenback remains supported by jobs data that has boosted chances the United States will soon pull back on its bond-buying programme.
News that Anglo Platinum [JSE:AMS], the world's number one producer of the precious metal, has been hit by a wildcat strike at one of its mines will weigh further on local sentiment.
The rand was changing hands at R10.2765/$ by 08:36, down 0.73% from Friday's R10.2045 close.
"The rand is obviously under pressure because of the assumed effects of what would be considered favourable data for the tapering off of the quantitative easing efforts that Mr Bernanke alluded to," said William Van Rijn, head of the spot desk at Nedbank.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signalled last month the US central bank would likely rein in its bond purchases as the world's biggest economy shows signs of recovery.
This would drain billions of dollars out the local of high-yielding but risk-laden emerging market.
Government bonds followed the rand weaker on Monday, with the yield on the 2026 bond adding 6.5 basis points to 8.17%.
The yield on the 2015 paper was up 7 basis points to 6.22%.
Labour strife in the mining sector has helped shave off more than 21% of the rand's value against the dollar since the beginning of the year.
News that Anglo Platinum [JSE:AMS], the world's number one producer of the precious metal, has been hit by a wildcat strike at one of its mines will weigh further on local sentiment.
The rand was changing hands at R10.2765/$ by 08:36, down 0.73% from Friday's R10.2045 close.
"The rand is obviously under pressure because of the assumed effects of what would be considered favourable data for the tapering off of the quantitative easing efforts that Mr Bernanke alluded to," said William Van Rijn, head of the spot desk at Nedbank.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signalled last month the US central bank would likely rein in its bond purchases as the world's biggest economy shows signs of recovery.
This would drain billions of dollars out the local of high-yielding but risk-laden emerging market.
Government bonds followed the rand weaker on Monday, with the yield on the 2026 bond adding 6.5 basis points to 8.17%.
The yield on the 2015 paper was up 7 basis points to 6.22%.
Labour strife in the mining sector has helped shave off more than 21% of the rand's value against the dollar since the beginning of the year.
