JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand gained strongly on Thursday, as the dollar fell on global markets and the central bank held its main interest rate at a record low.
At 1510 GMT, the rand was trading at 14.6700 against the dollar, around 1.1% firmer than its previous close.
Although the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) decision to keep its repo rate on hold at 3.5% was expected, some traders took the implied rate path in the bank's Quarterly Projection Model as a sign that the scales were tipping towards a future rate hike.
Carmen Nel, economist and macro strategist at Matrix Fund Managers, said in a research note that the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) statement was hawkish enough to keep the door open should the SARB need to act soon.
South African rand firms in uncertain trade
The safe-haven dollar was down 0.5% against a basket of peer currencies, as risk sentiment improved globally.
Johannesburg-listed stocks rose, with the All-share index ending up 1.1% at 64,049 points and the Top-40 index closing up 1.2% at 57,643 points.
The government's benchmark 2030 bond fell, with the yield rising 6 basis points to 9.145%.
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