JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand edged up against the dollar and government bonds were also firmer in a quiet Monday session with many market players taking year-end breaks.
The yields for the benchmark 2026 note and the 2015 paper were each down 4 basis points, at 8.155 percent and 6.05 percent respectively.
The rand was trading up 0.47 percent at 10.3115 against the dollar at 1441 GMT, compared with Friday's close of 10.3600.
"Year-end demand for South African bonds amongst thin markets may offer the rand a layer of insulation over the next two weeks if the dollar drifts towards the firmer side," said Anisha Arora, an emerging market analyst at 4Cast.
"Nevertheless, the global backdrop will ultimately provide the rand with direction and given that our colleagues are expecting a mostly positive set of U.S. numbers over the next two weeks ... we prefer to hold a mildly bullish bias for dollar/rand."
The local currency is on track for a 22 percent loss against the greenback this year, with sentiment being buffeted for most of 2013 by strikes that hit output in South Africa's mining and manufacturing sectors.
The rand hit a two-week trough of 10.4750 per dollar last week, as investors sold high-yielding but riskier emerging market assets in the wake of the U.S Federal Reserve's decision to begin scaling back its stimulus in January.
The Fed's $85 billion-a-month asset purchases have been a key source of dollar inflows into emerging markets.
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