Johannesburg - South Africa's rand
traded weaker early on Monday as credit downgrades to "junk" by
two ratings firms last week following the sudden firing of the
finance minister continued to weigh.
Traders saw the unit slipping further in the week.
At 0645 GMT, the rand had weakened 0.56 percent to
13.8500 per dollar following a close at 13.7725 on Friday in New
York.
The rand has fallen more than 11 percent since March 27,
when President Jacob Zuma recalled Pravin Gordhan from an
investor roadshow to Britain and the United States then fired
him as finance minister.
Fitch on Friday followed S&P Global Ratings and downgraded
South Africa to "junk", citing Gordhan's dismissal as one
reason.
Local assets are increasingly losing out to emerging
market peers like Russia.
Stocks set to open higher at 0700 GMT, with the JSE
securities exchange's Top-40 futures index up 0.5
percent.
In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government
bond due in 2026 up 6.5 basis points to 8.995 percent.