JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand edged up against the dollar on Thursday on tentative hopes of a resolution to the strikes that have wreaked havoc particularly in the key mining sector in the past two months.
But no firm agreements have emerged from the wage talks yet, which may keep the local currency vulnerable for another retreat towards the 9.00 level after a heavy sell-off took it to a 3-1/2 low of 8.995/dollar on Monday.
By 1601 GMT the local unit was trading at 8.7070 to the dollar, 0.36 percent tighter than its 8.7385 close in New York.
It was also buoyed by a stronger euro, currency of South Africa's largest trading bloc partner, which extended gains against the dollar on encouraging comments from the head of the International Monetary Fund.
With investors worried about the impact on the economy of strikes which have seen almost 100,000 workers downing tools - often illegally - since August, market watchers did not see a sustained rally for the rand.
"The rand is still trading in murky waters at the current levels," said Paul Chakaduka, a dealer at Global Trader.
"If it continues to trade above 8.70 we could break through the 9 rand level."
Central Bank governor Gill Marcus said this week the domestic economic outlook was "deteriorating rapidly", with the labour unrest likely to lead to job losses.
Government bonds were weaker on Thursday, and the yield on the benchmark 2015 bond added 3 basis points to 5.42 percent while that for the 2026 issue gained 7 basis points to 7.76 percent.
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