JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand resumed a recent rally on Thursday, racing to a one-week high as emerging currencies lapped up the return of risk appetite after a string of disappointing data releases from the United States.
Stocks inched up, buoyed by mining shares as the Fed's decision boosted gold and platinum prices.
By 1600 GMT the rand had gained 1 percent to 14.2900 per dollar, the unit's firmest level since April 21. Government bonds were also firmer, with the benchmark paper due in 2026 cutting 4 basis points to 9.04 percent.
The rand traded in a narrow band earlier in the session as liquidity remained light following a national holiday on Wednesday, but gained momentum as the dollar faded after economic growth in the US braked to its slowest in two years.
The weak growth figures came after the US central bank on Wednesday left its benchmark lending rate unchanged and suggested it was in no hurry to tighten monetary policy, cheering global risk appetite in the process.
The rand also found support from the latest bit of data showing some resilience in the domestic economy, with producer inflation slowing more than expected to 7.1 percent year-on-year, according to figures released by Statistics South Africa.
"Measures of economic sentiment show signs of stabilisation following December's political shock," analysts at Capital Economics said in a note, referring to President Jacob Zuma's sacking of two finance ministers in three days.
On the bourse, bullion rose by 1 percent, lifting Anglogold Ashanti 6.15 percent to 220.10 rand.
Anglo American, which controls the world's largest platinum producer, was the biggest winner among the JSE's blue-chips, advancing 9 percent to 152.99 rand as platinum prices rose more than 2 percent to their highest level since July last year.
The benchmark Top-40 index was 0.21 percent firmer at 46,793 points while the All-Share index rose 0.3 percent to 53,223 points.
Trade was muted with around 224 million shares changing hands, compared with last year's daily average of 290 million, according to preliminary bourse data.
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