Johannesburg - South Africa's rand was on a slightly firmer footing against the dollar on Monday and traders expected sideways trading after last week's turmoil spurred by China devaluing the yuan.
At 06h49 GMT the local unit traded at 12.8150 per dollar, a tad up from Friday's close at 12.8260.
Government bonds were also flat, with the yield for the 2026 benchmark unchanged at 8.175 percent.
The rand hit a fresh 14-year low of 12.8895 to the greenback last week as emerging markets bore the brunt of a fallout from a surprise move by the People's Bank of China to weaken its currency.
“The two main catalysts from last week, China's devaluation and Turkey instability, have remained out of the news this weekend and so we start this week off scratching around for something,” Standard Bank trader Warrick Butler said on Monday.
“Barring anything out the ordinary then we should have a fairly even start to the day and I don't expect any fireworks.”
REUTERS