South Africa's rand firms ahead of mining, manufacturing data

10 Dec, 2013

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand firmed against the dollar on Tuesday and could gain further momentum if mining and manufacturing data comes out stronger than expected.

The rand was at 10.3700 to the dollar at 0632 GMT, up 0.2 percent from Monday's New York close.

Mining and manufacturing production are expected to make a recovery from September when manufacturing volumes fell by 3.3 percent year-on-year, the first contraction since March.

Mining output for the same month was up 0.6 percent, below market expectations.

Economists polled by Reuters expect mining production to rise 4.9 percent year-on-year in October and a 2.1 percent contraction in manufacturing production.

Employment figures for the third quarter are also due to be released on Tuesday.

Government bonds weakened slightly, with the yield on the 2026 issue gaining 1.5 basis points to 8.29 percent while that on the 2015 paper edged up 1 basis point to 6.205 percent.

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