By Garth Theunissen Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa's rand fell on speculation the country's importers sold it to buy the dollar after the rand rose to the highest level in three days. The rand snapped a two-day advance against the U.S. and European currencies after earlier climbing to the strongest since Oct. 15. South Africa's currency fell even as the country's stocks climbed with those around the world and the prices of gold and platinum rebounded, increasing earnings prospects for the world's biggest exporter of precious metals. ``We're seeing strong importer demand below the 10 rand to the dollar level,'' said Ian Martin, a currency strategist at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg. ``Small importers in particular have been rattled by the rand's weakness. Every time the rand strengthens they buy foreign exchange.'' The South African currency fell as much as 1.1 percent to 10.1224 per dollar and traded at 10.0481 by 2:43 p.m. in Johannesburg, from 10.0126 at the end of last week. Earlier it strengthened 1.9 percent to 9.8250. The rand fell versus all 16 most-actively traded currencies monitored by Bloomberg, slipping 0.5 percent versus the euro to 13.4967, from 13.4260 on Oct. 17. South Africa's currency has fallen more than 32 percent against the dollar this year, making it the worst-performing major currency in the world as foreign investors turned net sellers of about 34 billion rand ($3.3 billion) of the country's stocks and bonds. About $30 trillion has been wiped off global stock benchmarks in the past year as the U.S. subprime-mortgage crisis toppled financial institutions and spread to economies throughout the world. Importers Buying ``We've definitely seen importer-buying today,'' said Marc Copeland, a currency trader at Investec Capital Markets in Cape Town that helps manage about $60 billion in assets. ``People are nervous about further rand weakness. Any deterioration in equity markets will hit the rand hard.'' Copeland said he is ``positioning for further weakness,'' in the currency without giving a trading range. ``It's difficult to say exactly where the rand is going to trade in the current environment,'' Copeland said. South Africa's benchmark FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose 1.6 percent today as stocks climbed in Asia and Europe after South Korea and the Netherlands announced plans to support their banking systems. Still, the Johannesburg Securities Exchange's measure has dropped almost 30 percent this year. Gold climbed for the first time in three days, increasing 1.4 percent to $794.69 an ounce. Platinum snapped a three-day decline, gaining 0.9 percent, to $874 an ounce. Gold fell 19 percent since March 17, when it touched a record high of $1,032.70 an ounce. Platinum plunged 60 percent since March 4, when it traded at its highest ever price of $2,301.50 an ounce. South Africa produces almost 80 percent of the world's platinum and about 10 percent of its gold, typically causing the rand to move in tandem with the metals' prices. Government bonds fell, with the yield on the 13.5 percent security due September 2015 climbing 4 basis points to 9.34 percent. The yield on the 13 percent note maturing in August 2010 rose 8 basis points to 9.59 percent. Yields move inversely to bond prices. To contact the reporter on this story: Garth Theunissen in Johannesburg gtheunissen@bloomberg.net

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