South African rand gains as striking miners reduce demands

The value of the South African rand achieved top gains of emerging market currencies on Tuesday, propelled by ongoing negotiations between platinum miners and striking workers, according to Bloomberg.

The monetary unit of the largest economy on the African continent emerged as the top performer among at least 25 currencies tracked by the news service. Platinum is the country's top foreign-currency earner.

"News flow surrounding the labor unrest has turned slightly more positive," states an email to the news service from head of fixed-income research Theuns de Wet with Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg. "The underlying macro-economic environment remains bond-bullish, with low growth, contained inflation and easy monetary policy. If the unrest in the mining sector continues to settle down, bonds should trade stronger."

Mining accounts for roughly 9 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and one-fifth of its export earnings, government data states.

Reuters reports that strikers at Lonmin's Marikana mine in South Africa have reduced their demands to end the six-week protest that has cut down manufacturing at the globe's third-largest producer of the metal.