The rand declined versus the dollar for the fourth day in five as European leaders cut off aid payments to Greece before a referendum on a bailout deal, sapping investor demand for riskier, emerging-market assets. The rand slipped as much as 0.6 percent, and traded 0.4 percent weaker at 8.0303 per dollar as of 8:03 a.m. in Johannesburg. Against the euro, South Africa’s currency retreated 0.1 percent to 11.0045. German and French leaders holding emergency talks on the eve of a Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France, said the Greek ballot, set for Dec. 4 or 5, amounted to a vote on the nation’s future in the currency union. Emerging-market stocks and commodity prices fell as investors sought refuge in the dollar, which gained against all but one of its most-traded peers. “It is crunch time and we’re set for four weeks of major uncertainty,” John Cairns and Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana, currency strategists at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg, said in a research note. “Two-way risks remain high.” South Africa’s 6.75 percent bonds due 2021 gained for the first day in four, driving the yield down five basis points, or 0.05 percentage points, to 7.94 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Brand in Cape Town at rbrand9@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

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