Rand firms, stocks set to open higher

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July 4, 2016 5:49 PM

At 0645 GMT, the rand traded at 14.4980 to the dollar, 0.49 percent firmer than its New York close on Friday.

A street money changer counts South African Rands in Harare, Zimbabwe, May 5, 2016. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

South Africa's rand firmed in early trade on Monday as it continued its recovery from a Brexit-triggered slump, but traders remained wary before a slew of local and global economic data later in the week.

The currency had got support on Friday from bets that leading central banks would keep rates low to minimise the damage to the global economy after Britons voted to exit the European Union.

Traders said they would now be looking for information on the health of that economy as the week unfolded.

"Data has been largely ignored in the past two weeks but there is no getting away from Friday’s U.S. payrolls data," Rand Merchant Bank analyst John Cairns said in a note.

Cairns said locally, focus was on huge capital inflows after Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) data showed 19 billion rand ($1.31 billion) of bond inflows in the past two weeks and 61 billion rand of equity flows over the past month.

"What’s driving this is unclear, although we do know that other emerging markets are also seeing large inflows, but perhaps not on such a massive scale. Whatever the cause, they are a massive driver of rand gains. Whether or not they will sustain is another question entirely."

The JSE will later on Monday release data on foreigners' buying and selling of South African bonds and stocks. Also expected in the week are local consumer confidence and business confidence data.

Stocks were set to open higher at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange's Top-40 futures index up 0.84 percent.

In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark instrument due in 2026 was down 2.5 basis points to 8.67 percent.

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