JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand was on a slightly firmer footing against the dollar early on Monday, buoyed by weekend news that a strike at mining firm Exxaro which had threatened coal supply to the state electricity utility has been resolved.
The local unit also tracked gains in the euro, which rose after debt-ridden Cyprus secured a 10 billion euro bailout, soothing investors who had dumped risky assets over the crisis.
The rand was up 0.2 percent against the dollar at 9.2755 by 0651 GMT compared with Friday's close at 9.2918.
Government bonds were also firmer, and yields inversely edged lower, with the 2026 paper shedding two basis points to 7.465 percent.
The bond maturing in 2015 was down a basis point at 5.545 percent.
The currency has lost more than percent of its value against the greenback since the start of the year, buffeted by a raft of weak economic data and strikes in the mining sector which have hit investor sentiment.
Some good news came at the weekend when Exxaro Resources said it had striking workers would return to work on Monday, after a stoppage of more than two weeks that had halted production at five of its collieries.
"The Cyprus bailout and the reduced threat of electricity shortages should result in the rand rallying today," RMB said in a note, adding however:
"Whether this is enough to break the multi-week trend towards weakness is far from clear."
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