JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand started the week on the back foot against the dollar amid thin trading due to public holidays in the United States and Britain.
The rand was at 9.6045 to the dollar at 0624 GMT, 0.3 percent weaker than its close in New York on Friday.
A stronger dollar and concerns about the US Federal Reserve scaling down its bond-buying programme, as well as the possibility of more bad news from the local mining sector, could keep the rand under pressure, analysts said.
"Not only could the rand remain vulnerable to such a strong US dollar environment but if this week's local GDP data proves to be even softer than expected and/or there is more strife on the local labour front, then rand bears are likely to have another stab at the R9.70/USD mark," Absa Capital said in a note.
Increased volatility is likely on Monday due to light trading volumes as markets in London and New York will be closed, the noted added.
Local data due this week include economic growth figures for the first quarter of 2013, credit and money supply data for April and producer inflation and trade data.
The yield on the 2026 government bond edged up 3 basis points to 7.09 percent while that on the 2015 issue was flat at 5.24 percent.
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