Johannesburg - South Africa's rand weakened on Wednesday, suffering the effects of a strong dollar, although trade was light as investors waited for the outcome of a European Central Bank policy meeting and US jobs numbers later in the week.
At 08:48 SA time, the rand was 0.5 percent softer against the dollar at 11.0900.
The greenback was bolstered by US mid-term election results that raised hopes of an end in political gridlock in Washington.
The rand is also coming under pressure from the failure of state power company Eskom to keep the lights on in Africa's most advanced economy.
Eskom cut power across the country on Sunday and said the grid would remain under pressure on Wednesday and Thursday after an accident at a large power station.
“Dollar/rand left 11.10 resistance intact on Tuesday. However locally, the power grid remains constrained, leaving the scope for dollar/rand pull-backs limited,” Anisha Arora, emerging market analyst at 4Cast, said.
Government bond yields rose to Tuesday's levels of 7.985 percent on the benchmark 2026 issue. - Reuters