Johannesburg - The rand swung dramatically in volatile trading, gaining as much as 11c to the dollar from Friday's afterhours trading level of R7,87 to the dollar, before it ended yesterday's local session stronger at R7,76.
Analysts were at odds over whether the local currency had tracked a stronger euro or merely reacted to technical factors. However, one fact that stood out was the rand's continued resilience lately to emerging market turmoil, which ended yesterday with the Turkish lira regaining half of its losses to the dollar.
Chris Hart, Absa Treasury's financial economist, said the rand was certainly "ringfenced" since last week, but added that the rand and the euro "went nowhere" over the past two weeks if their intraday movements were ignored.
Hart said the rand's strength was remarkable if viewed in the light of last week's Budget, which increased the foreign investment allowance for South Africans.
Bond yields ended virtually unchanged from Friday's 11,18 percent close, after being lifted as high as 11,24 percent on profit taking. On the JSE Securities Exchange gold and information technology (IT) stocks kept the overall market in positive territory.
The gold index gained 5,59 percent as the price of the metal jumped $1,75 an ounce to fix at $263,20. AngloGold gained R8,40, or 3,8 percent, to R228,40. IT stocks joined European indices' gains after the technologyladen Nasdaq composite index ended a fourday drop. Bloomberg reported this was on speculation that the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this week.
Dimension Data, the computer services company, gained R1,70, or 3,71 percent, to close at R47,50. Andile Mazwai of Barnard Jacobs Mellet said sentiment on the JSE was now driven by the direction of interest rates, with a host of economic indicators expected this week.