JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand was largely flat against the dollar on Tuesday as trading resumed after the Easter holiday, with a local mine strike that has dragged on for months as well as political turmoil in Ukraine posing downward risks for the currency.
By 0650 GMT the rand was quoted at 10.5125 per dollar, slightly down from its previous close at 10.5090.
"The rand is still exhibiting a weaker bias, due to the uncertainty surrounding Ukraine, as well as yesterday's stronger-than-expected US leading indicator report," Barclays Africa said in a market note.
The greenback was stronger against a basket of major currencies following a subdued session overnight with many global financial centres shut for the Easter long-weekend.
On the local front, investors were likely to be focused on talks to end a three-month wage strike that has hit 40 percent of global platinum output after producers made a new wage offer on Thursday.
In fixed income, government bonds were slightly weaker, with yields for the 2026 and 2015 benchmarks each adding one basis point to 8.385 percent and 6.725 percent respectively.
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