Johannesburg - South Africa's rand traded close to its previous close against the dollar on Monday, in what dealers expected to be a largely rangebound session due to a US holiday.
On the domestic front, markets have their eyes on Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene's debut budget statement next week, where he will likely cut economic growth forecasts while predicting a wider budget deficit, both negatives for the currency.
At 08:51 SA time, the rand was at 11.0800 against the dollar, up 0.27 percent from Friday's close in New York.
The local unit partly tracked similar gains by Asian currencies on the back of better-than-expected trade data from China, which procures raw commodities from emerging countries like South Africa.
Government bonds edged higher, and the yield for the 2026 instrument which the secondary market uses as a benchmark retreated 3 basis points to 8.085 percent.
The lift from the Chinese trade data could be short lived, as investors remain concerned about bleak global economic prospects, undermining their appetite for risky assets.
“The waning growth outlook continues to hit equities and commodities hard. The currency markets remain more circumspect, with the rand and other yield plays getting some relief from the sharp decline in global bond yields,” RMB currency analyst John Cairns said.
“However, if risk aversion continues to mount then the rand will eventually succumb.” - Reuters