Rand steady

JOHANNESBURG. — South Africa’s rand traded sideways yesterday as the Fed-sparked rally from previous week started losing steam with market activity subdued by a holiday in Asia.

At 0640 GMT, the rand was 0.07 percent firmer at 13.4100 per dollar from an overnight close of 13.4200 in New York.

After racing to a six-month high last Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept lending rates unchanged and signalled an end to its hiking cycle, the rand has since eased as investors locked in gains and awaited the next driving force on the index.

“The technical level around 13.30 is likely to prove resilient. On the top side, initial dollar sellers are likely to emerge between 13.50 and 13.55. We see the technical resistance at 13.6000,” said analysts at Nedbank in a note.

Optimism over recently concluded US-China trade talks is expected to keep yield-seeking investors keen to pick-up emerging market assets.

Elsewhere in Asia, trade was light, with markets in greater China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia all closed for the Lunar New Year.

Bonds were also flat, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond steady at 8.64 percent.

Stocks were set to open higher at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index up 0.38 percent.