South Africa's rand steady vs dollar, bonds weaker

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand was steady against the dollar on Wednesday after failing to take advantage of a struggling greenback, which has been on the back foot following the first partial U.S. government shutdown in 17 years. The rand was at 10.1450 to the dollar at 0604 GMT, barely changed from its close in New York on Tuesday. Although the dollar fell to an 8-month low on Tuesday after the U.S. Congress failed to agree on a bill that funds government operations, weak local PMI and vehicle sales data meant the rand ended the session lower. South Africa's Purchasing Managers' Index fell to an 8-month low of 49.1 in September from 56.5 in August as a strike in the auto sector hurt new sales orders. New car sales decreased 1.5 percent year-on-year in September to 54,281 units, according to data released on Tuesday "For all the pressure exerted on the dollar, the rand has not been able to take advantage of this, with the dollar-rand now trading close to one-month highs," Tradition Analytics wrote in a note. "The structural inhibitors in the local economy to rand performance, in particular the twin deficits, will exert themselves during periods of slowing foreign portfolio flows, such as now." Government bond yields climbed higher, with that on the 2026 issue up 8.5 basis points to 8.09 percent while the 2015 paper was yielding 6.195 percent, up 4 basis points.