Johannesburg - The rand recouped some losses on Tuesday after reports Russia ordered troops in military exercises in central and western Russia to return to base, raising hopes that a peaceful solution in Ukraine might be reached.
The rand traded as strong as 10.8205 against the dollar after the media reports, and was trading at 10.8300 to the dollar at 09:10 SA time, from Monday's close of 10.9090 in New York.
President Putin has ordered troops that took part in military exercises this week to return to base, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin spokesman as saying on Tuesday.
“Pulling out troops, basically, that is being seen as risk positive,” said Oliver Alwar, a senior dealer at Standard Bank.
Standard Bank added in client note that should the dilemma be resolved soon and a potential disaster averted, then it sees no reason why the rand cannot back-track from its recent weakness.
Still, government bonds were slightly weaker, the yield on the benchmark 2026 issue rose 2.5 basis points to 8.625 percent and that on the 2015 bond was up 1.5 basis points to 7.175 percent. - Reuters