Market News

BY  Tannur Anders

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 6 (Reuters) – The South African rand was stable in early trade on Friday, as markets looked to U.S. jobs data for hints on the depth of an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month.

At 0715 GMT, the rand traded at its Thursday closing level of 17.70 against the dollar.

“Markets remain on edge as traders await today’s key U.S. nonfarm payrolls and unemployment data which is likely to dictate the upcoming Fed monetary policy decisions,” Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE, said.

“Analysts are also still leaning toward a soft landing for the U.S. economy which is seeing EM (emerging market) currencies like the rand trade firmer over the last few days,” Cilliers added.

Like other risk-sensitive currencies, the rand often takes cues from U.S. monetary policy and other global drivers in addition to domestic factors.

Local central bank data on Friday showed that South Africa’s net foreign reserves rose to $60.141 billion at the end of August from $59.165 billion in July.

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the blue-chip Top-40 index was down about 0.86% in early trade.

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South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond hit its strongest level in almost three years in early deals on Friday, as the yield slipped 2 basis points to 8.985%.

(Reporting by Tannur Anders; Editing by Andrew Heavens)