South Africa's rand firms as Gordhan jitters subside, stocks flat

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand looked to consolidate its recovery against the dollar on Monday as doubts over the tenure of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan abated in the face of public support from business leaders and ruling ANC officials. Stocks were flat, with telecoms company MTN gaining on news its next chief executive will take over three months ahead of plan, while Gold Fields fell almost 6 percent after it unveiled plans to invest $1.4 billion to extend the life of its Damang mine in Ghana. Analysts and traders said the rand remained vulnerable to concerns about the stuttering economy, with Gordhan expected to slash the 2016 growth forecast in his mid-term budget on Wednesday. By 1509 GMT the rand traded 0.5 percent firmer at 3.9200 to the greenback compared with Friday's close at 13.9850. The currency has gained more than 4 percent since slumping to 14.5000/dlr nearly two weeks ago after state prosecutors summoned Gordhan to court on Nov. 2 to face fraud charges. At least 80 heads of top South African firms including Anglo American, Barclays Africa Group and Naspers said charges against Gordhan should be dropped. "In the week ahead, further political developments hold the potential to impact rand sentiment, along with the medium term budget policy statement," Investec analyst Kamilla Kaplan said. Government bonds edged stronger alongside the rand on Monday, and the yield on 10-year debt dipped 3 basis points to 8.8 percent. The main stock indices were little moved with the benchmark Top 40 index 0.14 percent higher at 45,134.28 while the wider All-share index added 0.1 percent to 51,683.39. Trade was modest with almost 182 million shares changing hands compared to last year's daily average of 296 million, MTN climbed 2.35 percent to 109.52 rand on news that Rob Shuter, Vodafone European boss, would take its helm in March, three months earlier than planned, as the firm faces allegations, which it denies, that it illegally moved $14 billion out of Nigeria. "It wasn't spectacular that the CEO is going to join three months sooner, but the share price has fallen so much that some kind of good news would cause this kind of a recovery," said Wayne McCurrie, a fund manager at Ashburton Investments. Gold Fields was the biggest decliner on the All-share index, dropping 5.8 percent to 57.81 rand, after it announced plans to spend $1.4 billion expanding Damang. The mine is in Ghana where other bullion producers have had big problems. Illegal miners operating at AngloGold Ashanti's Obuasi mine in Ghana have ignored a government deadline to leave, delaying company plans to restart production. (Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa and Ed Stoddard; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)