JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand surged to its firmest in 19 months against the euro on Friday while bonds also rallied, as news of the European Central Bank's massive monetary stimulus bolstered appetite for emerging market assets.
The rand was little changed against the dollar, however, with some investors taking a cautious tack ahead of next week's central bank rate decision.
Against the euro, the currency of one of South Africa's largest trading partners, the rand strengthened to 12.666, its firmest since June 2013. By 1550 GMT it had given up some gains and was at 12.838.
Investors around the world dumped the single European currency and shifted into riskier emerging-market assets after the European Central Bank announced a 1 trillion euro stimulus programme on Thursday.
"In recent weeks, the risks in terms of developed markets' monetary policy trajectories have turned notably more dovish," research house Tradition Analytics said in a note to clients. "It therefore comes as little surprise that the rand has strengthened versus some of its major trading partners, the EUR and GBP in particular." The rand was at 11.401 against the greenback, little changed from Thursday's close of 11.394 in New York.
The currency could continue to move sideways until the central bank's policy meeting on Thursday, when it is expected to keep rates steady at 5.75 percent, according to a Reuters poll.
Government bond yields - which move inversely to price - fell to their lowest since May 2013, dropping 16.5 basis points.
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