Rand Extends Weekly Gains

Spot USD/ZAR resumes losses after yesterday's uptick and is on track to register its biggest weekly loss since early March. Another upleg in gold prices helped drive rand strength at the start of April, albeit XAU/USD is taking a breather now, currently operating just shy of all-time highs printed earlier this week.

• When this is being typed, spot USD/ZAR trades at 18.6460, nearly 700 pips below the previous close, with bears looking for a sell-off past Mar 13 low of 18.5066. On the flip side, bulls look for a rebound towards Mar 28 high of 19.1063, followed by Feb 23 high of 19.3899.
• SAGB yields have ticked higher in early trade, with 10-year breakeven inflation rate last seen at 6.83%, following a sharp pullback below the 7% figure over the past two days or so.
• The aggregate BBG Commodity Index sits marginally below neutral levels at typing, while the precious metals subindex is 0.3% worse off, even as both have trimmed their initial losses.
• South Africa holds a linker auction today. The local data docket is empty, while the focus falls on US NFP data.