Rand holds steady vs dollar, focus on mining data

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The rand held steady against the dollar early on Thursday, trading near a two-week high as the greenback suffered a set back after weak economic data.

The rand was at 10.5805/dollar at 0648 GMT, slightly weaker but not far off its close in New York on Wednesday.

It hit its strongest level in over two weeks at 10.5650 to the dollar earlier in the session and looked set for five days of consecutive gains as it inches towards 10.5000.

Dealers said the local currency was getting support from a decline in the prices of traditional safe-havens as Russia/Ukrainegeopolitical tensions looked to ease, stoking the appetite for riskier emerging market assets.

Locally investors will be watching mining numbers for June.

Economists polled by Reuters expect a slight deterioration in the June numbers, with the sector still struggling to recover from months of inactivity in the platinum belt.

The data is due at 0930 GMT, after which focus will turn to U.S. jobless claims at 1230 GMT.

Yields on government bonds nudged down half a basis point each to 6.66 percent on the 2015 note and to 8.305 percent on the 2026 issue.