JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand climbed as much as 1.3 percent against the dollar on Friday as better-than-anticipated jobs data out of the U.S. boosted appetite for emerging markets, but the currency could struggle to make any further significant gains next week. The rand turned out the best performance in a basket of 20 emerging market currencies monitored by Reuters, and was on track to record its biggest weekly gain against the greenback since early December 2011. By 1621 GMT, the rand was trading 0.98 percent firmer at 7.5650 against the dollar. It touched a session high of 7.54 earlier, its strongest level since September 19 last year, in a rally triggered by non-farm payroll (NFP) data showing a larger-than-expected gain in U.S. jobs. Favourable data from the world's largest economy tends to boost risk appetite, buoying demand for high-yield currencies such as the rand. "The initial move in the markets post the relase of the NFP caused the euro/dollar to rally to just above 1.32 and this assisted the rand in gaining ground," said William Van Rijn, a forex trader at Nedbank. "Technically the next target on the downside (firmer) for the rand would be the test of 7.50, however we have been calling for a correction, given the extent of the moves in the rand over the last few sessions this seems likely," he added. Government bonds weakened slightly, with the yield on the three-year bond closing 3.5 basis points higher at 6.43 percent. The yield for the 2026 issue added two basis points to 8.085 percent. The rand is up more than six percent on the greenback so far this year, partly reversing some of last year's sharp losses when investors bailed out of risky assets on fears about the impact of a debt crisis bedevilling some European countries.
S.Africa's rand tests new highs, resistance looms
February 3, 2012, 6:20 pm
