JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand hit a nine-month high against the dollar and government bonds firmed on Thursday as the smooth local elections and expectations of continued low interest rates abroad boosted sentiment.
Stocks ended flat on Thursday as gold mining companies, which benefit from rand weakness, retreated in the face of the currency's gains, while paper maker Sappi surrendered earlier hefty gains on stellar results.
At 1510 GMT, the rand traded at 13.7650 per dollar, 1.04 percent firmer from its New York close on Wednesday.
The currency reached 13.7100 earlier in the day, its strongest level since Oct 29.
Bonds closed firmer as the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 dipped 9.5 basis points to 8.560 percent.
"You can attribute some of the movements to the smooth running of the elections without any major incidence of violence or reports of cheating. On the day (the rand) is outperforming other emerging currencies against the dollar," ETM market analyst Ricardo Da Camara said.
South Africans cast their votes in local elections on Wednesday and the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) led in three major cities on Thursday as votes were counted, threatening to deal the biggest electoral blow to the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994.
The ANC - which ended white-minority rule when it swept to power in the country's first democratic elections in 1994 - held a big lead in the national count.
Other traders said the rand also got support from investors seeking higher yields after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time since 2009 on Thursday, while near-term US rate hike prospects cooled.
On the bourse, decliners included Harmony Gold which fell 2.85 percent to 64.75 rand.
Paper maker Sappi surged 7 percent in early trade after the company reported an eight-fold jump in quarterly profit.
But at close, shares in the company were up 0.91 percent to 69.99 rand.
The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index ended 0.06 percent lower at 45,533 while the broader All-share index was up 0.02 percent at 52,543.
Trading volumes were a bit below average with 253 million shares changing hands.
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