South African rand firms as gold gets boost

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s rand (ZAR) jumped on Monday at the start of a week packed with economic data releases, as gold prices climbed after China’s central bank resumed purchases of the bullion.

At 1413 GMT, the commodity-driven rand traded at 17.8050 against the dollar, about 1.2% stronger than its previous close.

“Developments in the Middle East, together with China’s central bank resuming gold purchases after a 6-month hiatus has seen gold prices climb today, playing into the hands of the rand,” said Katleho Ntema, sales trader at IG Group.

South Africa-focussed investors will this week look to a slew of economic data including October mining production and manufacturing data on Tuesday and retail sales figures on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday Statistics South Africa will publish November consumer inflation data, and on Thursday it will release producer inflation numbers for the same month.

Global markets will look to U.S. inflation data on Wednesday for hints on the Federal Reserve’s policy stance when it meets next week.

“As we expect the rand to extend gains in the short-term, we would practice caution until both US and SA (consumer price index) prints on Wednesday,” Ntema said.

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index last traded about 0.7% up.

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South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was firmer, the yield down 2.5 basis points to 8.91%.