BLBG: Rand Gains for Second Day as Manufacturing Index Rises to Nine-Month High
The rand advanced for a second day against the dollar after South Africa’s purchasing managers’ index rose to its highest in nine months, indicating the economic recovery is gaining momentum.
The currency of Africa’s biggest economy appreciated 0.6 percent to 7.1341 per dollar as of 1:44 p.m. in Johannesburg. Against the euro, it added 0.3 percent to 9.8136.
The seasonally adjusted PMI index increased to 54.6 in January from 51.7 in December, Johannesburg-based Kagiso Securities Ltd. said in an e-mailed statement today. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
“There has been a string of positive data releases out of South Africa that are helping the currency,” Elisabeth Gruie, a London-based emerging-market currency strategist at BNP Paribas SA, France’s biggest bank, said by telephone.
The South Africa Revenue Service reported yesterday a record trade surplus of 10.3 billion rand ($1.4 billion) in December, compared with economists’ prediction of a deficit. That and other data indicate the economy is surmounting the export disadvantage of the rand’s 32 percent surge versus the dollar since the start of 2009.
Government bonds advanced for a second day, with the benchmark 13.5 percent security due September 2015 adding 35 cents to 121.82 rand. The yield fell 8 basis points, or 0.08 percentage point, to 7.78 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Garth Theunissen in London gtheunissen@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net
