Dollar slips globally as rand gains ground

THE rand firmed to a one-week high to the dollar on Thursday before retreating slightly, as the greenback softened ahead of widely watched US employment data due yesterday.

Markets in South Africa were closed yesterday and will be closed on Monday. At 1.15pm SA time, the rand had firmed 0.46 percent to 11.9400, having earlier gained over half a percent to a one-week high against a broadly weaker dollar.

“The dollar is softer across the board, which must be due to some profit taking,” said Lee Naisbitt, a trader at Rand Merchant Bank. “You’re going to find some position lightening ahead of payrolls and the holidays,” Naisbitt added, referring to US nonfarm payrolls data and public holidays.

The index measuring the dollar against a basket of major currencies showed the unit 0.65 percent softer on the day, despite mostly positive data from the US.

“Jobless claims were stronger than expected. Factory orders were still soft, but the big one is tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls data,” said market analyst Ricardo Da Camara of ETM Ananlytics. Local bonds were firmer, with the benchmark government issue due in 2026 shedding 1 basis point to 7.715 percent. The HSBC’s March Purchasing Managers’ Index is due on Tuesday. – Reuters