By Garth Theunissen March 8 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s rand advanced to a seven-week high after European Union officials signaled their support to help Greece remedy its fiscal woes, boosting demand for riskier assets in emerging markets. The rand appreciated for a seventh day, adding as much as 0.3 percent to 7.3824 per dollar, the strongest level since Jan. 19. The currency gained 0.2 percent to 7.3963 by 9:32 a.m. in Johannesburg, from a close of 7.4073 at the end of last week. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday the euro region is ready to rescue Greece should the nation struggle to fund the region’s largest budget deficit. Sarkozy also said Greece is “under attack” from speculators, echoing comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that their use of derivatives needed to be curbed. “Investors have become more optimistic about Greece’s debt situation,” Michael Keenan, Johannesburg-based a currency strategist at Standard Bank Group Ltd., wrote in a client note today. “This implies that investors are willing to buy risky assets again.” South Korea’s won and the Malaysian ringgit led gains in developing-nation currencies, climbing 0.7 percent against the dollar. Equity markets rallied from Shanghai to Mumbai, sending the MSCI Emerging Markets Index up 1.3 percent to a six-week high. Greece’s government last week passed further austerity measures and sold 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion) of debt to boost its finances. Government bonds fell, pushing up the yield on South Africa’s benchmark 13.5 percent security due September 2015 by almost 3 basis points to 8.20 percent. The bond’s price fell 13 cents to 123.14 rand. To contact the reporter on this story: Garth Theunissen in Johannesburg gtheunissen@bloomberg.net

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