JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand firmed on Monday after central bank data showed that foreign reserves increased last month.
At 1526 GMT, the rand was trading at 18.64 against the U.S. dollar, 0.24% stronger than its previous close.
The dollar was down about 0.18% against a basket of global currencies.
South Africa’s net foreign reserves rose to $57.513 billion at the end of March, from $56.652 billion in February, central bank data showed. Gross reserves increased to $62.323 billion in March from $61.653 billion in February.
More local economic data will be released later this week, including February gold and mining production and manufacturing figures on Thursday.
On the stock market, the Top-40 and the broader all-share indices closed more than 0.7% higher.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 6 basis points to 10.585%.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Andrew Heavens)
