Rand steadier

South Africa’s rand steadied against the dollar in early trade on Monday as the currency recovers from last week’s heavy lossess parked by dire budget forecasts.

At 0642 GMT, the rand traded at 14.1200 per dollar, not far off its New York close of 14.1075 on Friday.

The currency hit an 11-month low last week after Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba shocked markets by flagging sharply weaker growth expectations, wider deficits and rising government debt in a closely watched budget speech.

“The rand has recovered to levels that feel more comfortable but expect on-going volatility due to the continued reverberations of the budget, the volatility in EUR/USD and the very busy data and events calendar,” Rand Merchant Bank analyst John Cairns wrote in a note.

Local data due in the week include September trade figures and third-quarter unemployment numbers. In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was up a half a basis point to 9.14%.

Stocks were set to open flat at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index largely unchanged.