South Africa’s rand firmer as global risk appetite rises

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's rand was still on a firm footing against the dollar on Friday after touching 10-day highs the previous session, with investors favouring high-yielding emerging markets after the Federal Reserve signalled U.S. rates would stay low for a while.

The local unit traded at 10.7095 against the dollar by 0703 GMT, up 0.4 percent from Thursday's close.

Government bonds were largely stable, with the yield for the 2026 paper edging up 1 basis point to 8.325 percent and that for the bond due next year adding half a basis point to 6.65 percent.

Local assets took their cue from bullish global markets as investors bet that monetary policy would stay loose in the United States, Europe and Japan for a long time to come.

"South African assets still offer some great emerging market value and we expect real money flows to continue," Standard Bank trader Maemo Rametse said in a morning note. "No major data out today so technicals and flow should determine the trajectory."

However, investors are still worried that a resolution remains elusive to end a crippling domestic platinum strike which pushed the economy into contraction in the first quarter of the year.