S.Africa rand recovers vs dollar

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand recovered some ground against the dollar on Thursday after a battering overnight that took it to new 6-1/2 year lows, but generally remains on the backfoot as global economic worries hit markets.

At 0637 GMT the rand traded 2.08 percent firmer at 11.32 against the greenback, compared with Wednesday’s close at 11.56 in New York. The local currency went as low as 11.88 against the dollar overnight, its weakest level since March 2002, Reuters data shows.

The rand’s latest gains were due to some profit taking after its heavy losses overnight and in Asian trade earlier on Thursday, a Johannesburg trader said.

“But it still looks quite horrible. There’s lack of liquidity, especially during New York trade, although it seems as though during local (Johannesburg) time we have two-way flows,” the trader said.

“All emerging market currencies are under immense pressure. To be honest it can go any way, but we’re still of the view that there could be some more rand weakening.”

Government bonds were also firmer, and yields fell in turn. The benchmark 2015 bond yield dropped 6.5 basis points to 9.89 percent, while that for the 2036 note was down 7 basis points at 9.215 percent.

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