S.African stocks up, but bonds dip after rates on hold

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's bourse struck a new 14-month high on Tuesday, lifted by heavyweight miners but the rand lost ground on a stronger dollar and government bonds pared early gains after the central bank held rates steady.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index rose for the 8th consecutive session, adding 0.62 percent to 24,639.49 points, while the broader All-Share index advanced 0.52 percent to 27,246.40 points.

"The rand is the main contributor and also the rand hedged shares. The commodity shares have picked up and the platinum price is up quite nicely," said Rigardt Maartens, a portfolio manager at PSG Online Securities.

A weaker rand helps boost miners' export earnings, despite gold coming off its record peak. Platinum, though, kept its gains, helping Anglo Platinum climb 3.36 percent to 710 rand.

The rand was trading at 7.4850 against the dollar at 1600 GMT, 1.9 percent weaker than its previous close in New York, largely due to the greenback rebounding from a 15-month low.

The dollar strengthened after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke on the currency, with its strength hitting the gold price.

Record high precious metal prices -- South Africa is the world's biggest platinum producer and a big exporter of gold -- have helped the rand maintain its more than 20 percent rally versus the dollar this year.

"It's the drop off in commodities and the euro has lost a lot of ground," Bidvest Bank chief dealer Ion de Vleeschuwer said. "If the dollar keeps strengthening the rand will struggle to trade below (firmer than) 7.40," he said, adding exporter interest could cap losses at around 7.50.

South African central bank Governor Gill Marcus announced no change in the repo rate, dismissing political pressure to cut that had added to pressure on the currency.