JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand took advantage of disappointing unemployment figures from the United States and demand for emerging market assets to climb to its highest in two-months against the dollar on Thursday.
At one stage the rand gained over 2 percent before pulling back slightly, and by 1602 GMT had firmed 1.9 percent to 11.2750 per dollar, making it the second biggest gainer against the greenback in a basket of 20 emerging market currencies monitored by Reuters.
Only the Russian rouble, cheered by a rebound in global oil prices, had gained more against the dollar on the day.
On its way to its largest daily gain in 2015, the rand shrugged-off an announcement by power-utility Eskom that it was cutting a tenth of its electricity supply - its biggest power cuts this year - due to five failed generators.
"There's been respite for the rand but we're not out of the woods yet," said Ion de Vleeschauwer, a trader at Bidvest Bank. "We have stage three load-shedding at the moment and that's not going to entice any kind of confidence."
Selling on the dollar was triggered after the number Americans filing new claims for unemployment rose, albeit less than expected, keeping dollar on the back foot as bets on when the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise rates continued to swing.
"It only takes one good number out of the U.S. to turn the market around," de Vleeschauwer added, noting that the rand was unlikely to hold below the 11.000 mark.
Yields on government bonds inched up, with the paper due in 2026 adding 1.5 basis points to 7.35 percent.
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