JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand hit new record lows on Monday as the prospects of a U.S. rate hike hardened, a development that helped push stocks higher as money flowed into rand hedges such as the gold sector.
By 1534 GMT the rand had slipped 1.18 percent to 14.3195 after touching a new record low of 14.3270 as the stronger-than-expected jobs data in the world's biggest economy continued to reverberate through the markets.
The rand, along with its emerging market peers, were still weak against the greenback post U.S. non-farm payroll data released on Friday, showing employers in the United States added 271,000 jobs in October, the most in 10 months.
"If you think that 14.20 is expensive hold on to your seats because you're going to see much worse in the coming months for the rand," Bidvest Bank chief dealer Ion de Vleeschauwer.
Government bonds were also weaker with the benchmark issue due in 2026 adding 8.5 basis points to 8.595 percent.
On the bourse, platinum producer Lonmin bucked the up trend, with its Johannesburg shares sliding almost 13 percent to 3.26 rand - making it the worst performer on the day - after the company priced its $407 million share issue at a 94 percent discount in a fight for survival in the face of low prices.
"This is another piece of disappointing news for shell-shocked investors in the mining space. An incredibly dilutive rights issue, with very high advisory fees attached," said Royal London Asset Management's portfolio manager Martin Cholwill.
Elsewhere, the weak rand offered some support.
South African bullion producers and other exporters often benefit from rand weakness because they earn dollars while most of their costs are priced in the local currency.
Harmony Gold, which also announced the appointment of a new chief executive to replace the retiring Graham Briggs, rose 2.5 percent to 10.20 rand.
AngloGold Ashanti ended 1 percent higher after soaring as much as 7 percent in the session. The company fell into a loss in the third quarter but cut its debt - a major concern among investors - by 25 percent.
Sibanye Gold, which extracts all of its bullion in Africa's most industrialised economy and is therefore heavily influenced by the exchange rate, rose 3 percent to 20 rand.
The benchmark Top-40 index added 0.89 percent to 47,965 while the wider All-Share index climbed 0.77 percent to 53,371.
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