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South Africa’s rand
gained slightly against the dollar on Thursday, coming off six week
lows ahead of the central bank’s interest rate decision later in the
session. A Reuters poll forecast the Reserve Bank will keep its key
repo rate at 5.5 per cent, taking the view that 650 basis points of
cuts since December 2008 is sufficient stimulus to help lift growth
after the economy contracted in 2009. Government bonds firmed,
recouping some heavy losses that pushed yields to multi-month highs
this week.

The rand fell to a
six week low of 6.9978 in the previous session, inching close to the
key psychological level of 7.00/dollar that could indicate further
losses if breached.