Rand firmer as SA awaits Nkandla ruling

Johannesburg - The rand firmed against the dollar early on Thursday, holding on to its three-and-a-half month high against the greenback as receding worries of near-term US interest rate hikes buoy investors' appetite for riskier assets.

At 08:54, the rand traded at R14.9100/4, 0.23% firmer from Wednesday's New York of R14.9445.

The currency rallied to its best since mid-December on Wednesday after emerging markets were buoyed by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's comments that the US central bank should be cautious in raising interest rates.

"Further gains will be limited as traders wait for US payrolls report tomorrow, though Yellen’s cautious demeanour will keep emerging markets on front foot for while," NKC African Economics said in a note.

Locally, focus is on the Constitutional Court ruling on whether President Jacob Zuma should pay back some of the R240m spent by the state on renovating his private Nkandla home, as well as a raft of data releases such as February trade numbers.

Stocks were set to open lower, with the JSE's Top 40 futures index down 0.5%.

In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark instrument due in 2026 was down 1.5 basis points to 9.16%.