JOHANNESBURG - The rand firmed on Friday as modest US jobs report weighed on the dollar, although many investors stayed on the sidelines with national elections less than a week away.
The dollar weakened as traders focused on weaker aspects of the April US payrolls report, brushing aside stronger-than-forecast hiring and a drop in the jobless rate to a more than 49-year low. Locally, South Africans go to the polls next week. Although political analysts say a victory for the governing African National Congress is all-but-assured, the party has been struggling to reverse dwindling support blamed in part on unfulfilled promises to improve the lives of millions of the country’s poorest people.
The benchmark JSE Top-40 Index was 1.02% higher at 53,028.35, while the broader All-Share Index rose 1.01% to 59,335.90.
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