JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand snapped a four-day winning streak against the dollar on Friday, amid a lack of domestic impetus to counter rising concerns about the state of the global economy which left investors averse to risky assets.
The market has moved on from the euphoria of respected deputy Governor Lesetja Kganyago being appointed to take over as central bank chief when Gill Marcus retires on Nov. 8.
Market players are now focused on Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene's mid-term budget later this month, which is likely to show a widening deficit that could force the government to borrow more.
At 1514 GMT, the rand was at 11.1050 against the dollar, down 0.44 percent from where it ended the New York session on Thursday. Government bonds also relinquished some of their recent gains, with the yield for the 2026 benchmark instrument pulling back from the previous day's five-week lows to close up 2 basis points at 8.115 percent.
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