* Eurozone worries halt rand gains
* Bonds steady, stock futures down
* Malema appeal hearing starts
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 23 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand
softened against the dollar on Monday and could weaken further
as failure by Athens and its creditors to clinch a debt swap
deal re-ignited worries of a chaotic Greek default.
South African government bonds were largely steady and would
likely take direction from the rand, with the short end of the
curve seen under more under pressure on increasing concerns
about domestic inflation.
The rand was trading at 7.9671 against the dollar
at 0635 GMT, 0.3 percent softer than Friday’s New York close of
7.9450.
The rand gained about two percent against the dollar last
week, piercing its 100-day moving average at 7.9320 to hit a
2-month high of 7.8976.
“The rand has stopped strengthening after Greek authorities
and the holders of Greek debt failed to reach consensus about
how best to restructure the terms of their existing Greek bond
exposure,” said Absa Capital in a note.
“With risk aversion creeping back into the market on the
aforementioned EU debt concerns … it is poised to give back
some of last week’s gains.”
Continued…
