JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand broke a four-day decline on Thursday, taking a slight breather from recent heavy selling that had brought it to a four-year low and within sight of key support at around 10.0 to the US dollar.
The local currency was at 9.810 versus the greenback at 0646 GMT, up 0.1 percent from the previous day's close.
The rand had touched a four-year low of 9.86 on Tuesday, weighed down by weak domestic growth data and labour trouble in the crucial mining sector that could slow the growth of Africa's largest economy.
"We have seen the rand strengthen, but not by much," said Oliver Russell, a forex trader at Global Trader, adding world market trends were pointing to broad-based dollar strength for the trading session.
"You will probably see a little more risk-off and you could see the rand weaken to re-test the 9.85 level," said Russell.
Government bonds were slightly up across the board, with the yield on the 2026 benchmark issue down 1.5 basis points basis at 7.32 percent and the shorter-dated 2015 paper dipping by the same margin to 5.33 percent.
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