JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand firmed against the dollar early on Thursday, recovering from a fall through 10-to-the-greenback level to trade back in a familiar range.
Better-than-expected offshore data such as euro zone GDP helped prop up emerging markets in the previous session, which also pushed down the dollar index.
The rand opened Thursday's session at 9.9660 to the dollar on improving sentiment towards emerging markets and hit a session high of 9.9250.
Even as the rand recovers from Wednesday's fall, dealers do not expect it will make significant further gains due to simmering worries of labour strife in the crucial mining and manufacturing sectors.
The currency is expected to trade in a range of around 9.80 to just above 10 for the next few sessions.
"The rand may struggle to see any further upside versus the dollar as it remains vulnerable to negative news out of the mining and auto sector regards strikes," said Christopher Shiells of Informa Global Markets.
"Tomorrow's one-year anniversary of the Marikana shootings will keep traders nervous."
Friday marks the anniversary of the deadliest security incident in the post-apartheid era when police shot dead 34 striking workers at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, inflaming violent labour strife that has shown few signs of abating.
Workers in the auto sector said they planned to go on strike from Monday, which is likely to hit manufacturers in an industry that has seen continued consumer demand while the rest of the country's sectors struggle.
Yields on government bonds were down two basis points to 8.255 percent on the benchmark 2026 issue.
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