South African rand pauses rally, weakens 0.25 percent

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand was slightly weaker in early deals on Thursday, pausing a rally that lifted the local unit to its strongest level since mid-2015.

At 0626 GMT, the rand traded at 11.8800 versus the dollar, 0.25 percent weaker from its overnight close in New York.

The currency has surged since Cyril Ramaphosa won the race to succeed Jacob Zuma as African National Congress leader last month, putting him in pole position to become the country's next president.

"This morning so far a relatively quiet session, range 11.85-11.8950. The market could be getting ahead of itself and would look for some local importer interest this morning," Nedbank said in a note.

Government bonds were flat, and the yield for the benchmark instrument due in 2026 at 8.340 percent.