Johannesburg - The South African rand steadied against the US dollar early on Tuesday, after opening the week strongly as emerging markets continued to rally in the wake of US jobs data.
The rand looked to have run out of steam and was likely to be caught in ranges, with some US markets closed for a holiday.
At 08:35 SA time, South Africa's rand traded at 11.2760 to the dollar, little changed from a 11.2705 close in New York on Monday.
Risks for the rand would mostly be domestically-driven, traders said, with Statistics South Africa due to release September manufacturing production data at 13:00 SA time.
Economists polled by Reuters expected a rebound to 5.1 percent year-on-year in output, from a 1.2 percent contraction in August.
The manufacturing sector, the second biggest in the economy, entered a recession in the second quarter of the year, mostly because of the effects of work stoppages for higher pay.
Government bonds tracked the steady rand on Tuesday, with the yield on the benchmark 2026 bond nudging down half a basis point to 7.96 percent.
The Treasury was selling 2.35 billion rand worth of 2030, 2032 and 2048 paper at a weekly auction, with results due after 11:00 SA time. - Reuters