* Dollar/rand within ranges of 7.40-7.60
* Support seen at 7.50 to the dollar
JOHANNESBURG, March 5 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand
and government bonds held steady on Monday as traders looked
abroad for more direction while importer demand for dollars and
risk aversion could keep the rand in tight ranges.
This week traders will be eyeing local January manufacturing
data due on Thursday which could suggest a direction for local
bond yields, while a bond swap between Greece and private
investors will keep investors cautious.
“Stock markets in the far east are a bit lower this morning,
probably a bit of early pressure on the rand, we will keep on
watching the wires for stuff about the euro zone,” said Ion de
Vleeschauwer, a trader at Bidvest Bank said.
“It does look like any dips below 7.5 will probably be a
good buying opportunity for dollars, there is a lot of importer
demand down there, the euro looks a bit weak again,” De
Vleeschauwer added.
The rand was trading at 7.5352 against the dollar,
a little changed from Friday’s New York close of 7.5185.
Government bonds also saw little movement. The yield on the
benchmark 2015 issue ticked up half a basis point to
6.675 percent and that on the 2026 bond held steady at
8.295 percent.
(Reporting by Vuyani Ndaba, editing by Ed Stoddard)
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