Eskom’s lifting of emergency boost for rand

THE rand strengthened against the dollar yesterday, helped by the lifting of an emergency declared by power utility Eskom.

The rand was at 10.0850 to the dollar at 1458 GMT, up 0.4 percent from Thursday’s New York close.

Eskom said late on Thursday it would lift an emergency it had declared on Tuesday as the system was now stable.

Eskom, which provides 95 percent of South Africa’s electricity, last declared an emergency in 2008 when it was forced to introduce rolling blackouts, costing the economy billions of rands in lost output.

A stronger euro and ample dollar liquidity also supported the rand yesterday.

“The combination of the various factors have given some support to the rand,” said Nedbank FX trader William van Rijn. “We’ve seen fairly decent amounts of dollars enter the market, hence the rand is enjoying a somewhat stronger session overall.”

Government bonds were firmer, with the yield on the 2026 government bond 5 basis points lower at 8.185 percent and that on the 2015 paper down 1 basis point at 6.11 percent. – Reuters