JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The South African rand inched weaker against the dollar on Thursday as an on-going work-stoppage in the engineering and metal sector continued to weigh on investor sentiment.
The rand was down 0.21 percent to a two-week low 10.7825/dlr at 0705 GMT, extending its losses of around 0.75 percent from Wednesday.
The strike, in its third day, has seen over 200,000 members of the NUMSA union down tools and comes on the heels of a crippling five-month platinum strike that pushed the economy into contraction in the first quarter.
Support was seen around 10.84/dlr, its recent low which it hit on June 17.
“As yet, there is no threat to the range that extends to 10.84/86,” John Cairns of Rand Merchant Bank said in a market note.
Government bonds were steady with yields on the paper maturing next year as well as on the longer 2026 paper almost unmoved at 6.740 percent and 8.385 percent respectively.
