Johannesburg - South Africa's rand gave up its gains against the dollar early on Monday, tracking other commodity currencies which fell after China, a major importer of their products, released weak trade data.
At 06h43 GMT the rand was trading 0.61 percent softer at 12.0735 to the dollar compared with its closing level on Friday.
The rand mirrored a tumble by the Australian dollar after a shock contraction in China's exports added to worries about slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.
“The rand is at risk of pushing substantially weaker today following the terrible Chinese trade data,” said John Cairns, a currency strategist at Rand Merchant Bank.
“The rand is usually not as sensitive to data from China but will presumably play follow-my-leader this morning.”
South African government bonds were similarly soft in early trade.
The yield on the 2026 benchmark rose 5.5 basis points to 7.765 percent.
Reuters