SAfrica rand firms on MTN news, stocks to open firm

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Wed, Jul 9 12:54 PM

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand gained against the dollar on Wednesday, buoyed in part by news of extended talks between local mobile phone perator MTN and India's Reliance Communications on a potential combination, traders said.

The rand was up 0.32 percent at 7.7150 around 0639 GMT, compared to Tuesday's closing level of 7.74/dollar.

"Dollar-rand is heavy. It looks like we are going to test lower today (firmer rand), there are some heavy offers," a Johannesburg trader said.

"It's the Reliance talks ... lots of people are speculating there's going to be an inflow (of dollars) and the rand is probably going to strengthen," he said.

"Technically 7.68/70 is still big, and if that holds I think we'll probably see a 7.68-78 range," the trader said.

The blue chip Top-40 September futures contract was up 1.44 percent, suggesting a strong start for the JSE Securities Exchange at 0700 GMT after commodity counters dragged domestic stocks to a five-month low on Tuesday.

Government bonds firmed with the rand, and yields slipped, with the 2015 bond easing by two basis points to 10.44 percent and the 2036 issue shedding 2.5 basis points to 9.93 percent.

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