The rand advanced to a three-week high versus the dollar after stocks and commodities gained worldwide amid signs the global economy is recovering. The rand appreciated as much as 0.4 percent to 7.0225 per dollar, the strongest level since Aug. 8. It traded 0.3 percent higher at 7.0320 as of 9:54 a.m. in Johannesburg. Figures yesterday showed U.S. personal spending climbed last month by the most since February. India’s economy expanded 7.7 percent in the quarter ended June 30, data today showed. The Swiss franc, yen and dollar declined as investors’ appetite for riskier, emerging-market assets increased. Emerging-market stocks extended a three-day rally and the Standard & Poor’s GSCI index of raw materials rose to its highest level in three weeks. “The global environment has proved to be much more positive than we had expected, lifting all risky assets,” John Cairns and Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana, currency strategists at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg, said in a research note. Bonds declined. The 13.5 percent notes due 2015 dropped 5.5 cents to 124.13 rand, driving the yield one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, higher to 6.58 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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