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South African rand gains from gold rally

The South African rand strengthened on Thursday. It retained recent gains that were a result of a gold rally which boosted the majority of emerging market assets.

At 1245 GMT the rand was trading at 17.09 per dollar, an increase of 0.3% over Wednesday's closing price.

The gold price held above $4,000 per ounce as investors remained uncertain about the U.S. Government shutdown which is now in its ninth day.

The recent record-breaking price of gold, which is traditionally viewed as a safe haven during periods of uncertainty, was due to economic unrest and expectations of interest rate reductions in the United States.

The dollar has largely remained flat, as traders were unable to access key economic data due to the government shutdown.

South Africa's manufacturing data was a focus for traders who were based in South Africa.

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The production dropped 1.5% on an annual basis in August after a downward revision of 1.3% on an annual basis in July.

The analysts polled expected that production growth would have slowed down to just 0.1%.

The Top-40 Index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange was the last to gain 0.1%.

The yield on the benchmark 2035 South African government bond fell by 6.5 basis points, to 9.025%. (Reporting and editing by Sfundo parakozov, Anathi madubela. Editing Mark Potter.

(source: Reuters)