JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand fell on Friday amid political jitters as the state power company reinstated its former chief executive, who had resigned after being implicated in a report by the anti-graft watchdog into alleged influence-peddling.
At 1515 GMT, the rand traded at 13.3850 per dollar, down from its New York close of 13.3650 on Thursday. The currency had weakened to 13.4825/dollar earlier in the session.
NKC African Economics analysts said in a note that news that Brian Molefe would return next week as CEO of power utility Eskom had hit the local currency.
Molefe stepped down in last November following a report by the Public Protector that raised questions over coal deals between Eskom and a company controlled by the Gupta family.
In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 fell 4 basis points to 8.705 percent.
On the bourse, the benchmark Top-40 index dropped percent to 47,430 points while the All-Share index dipped 0.09 percent to 54,063 points.
Richemont's South African-listed shares fell 5.09 percent to 108.34 rand after the Swiss-listed luxury goods company posted a drop in full year profit.
Local rand-hedged stocks - which make the bulk of their revenue outside South Africa and tend to rise as the rand weakens - led gainers.
"We have seen a little bit of weakness creeping into rand hedges, particularly Richemont. There was a miss on their results this morning and the market didn't take too kindly to that," said Independent Securities trader Ryan Woods.
Among the biggest fallers, Net 1 dropped 5.30 percent to 134.00 rand, BHP Billiton fell 0.65 percent to 200.89 rand and ArcelorMittal fell 2.47 percent to 7.51 rand.
The gold sector benefited from safe-haven buying. Goldfields rose 3.09 percent to 48.01 rand and AngloGold gained 1.58 percent to 153.34 rand.
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