The rand gained for the first day in three and yields fell to the lowest in a week on speculation euro-area leaders meeting this week will make progress on Greece’s debt crisis, stoking demand for riskier assets. South Africa’s currency advanced as much as 1.1 percent, and traded 0.8 percent stronger at 8.2669 per dollar as of 10:40 a.m. in Johannesburg. Yields on the nation’s 6.75 percent bonds due 2021 dropped five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 6.84 percent, the lowest since Aug. 14. International creditors may adjust the interest on Greek bailout loans, Norbert Barthle, a senior lawmaker of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, was quoted as saying by the Passauer Neue Presse. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the euro group of finance ministers, visits Greece tomorrow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande meet in Berlin on Aug. 23 and both are set to talk separately with Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras this week. “An improvement in global risk appetite has supported demand for emerging market commodity-based currencies, providing support for the rand,� Ian Cruickshanks, head of treasury strategic research at Johannesburg-based Nedbank Group Ltd., and colleagues wrote in a report today. Foreign investors were net buyers of 1.1 billion rand ($133 million) of South African bonds yesterday, after selling 3.2 billion last week, according to JSE Ltd., which runs the nation’s bond exchange. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of raw materials climbed to the highest in more than three months as prices of metal including copper rallied. South Africa’s benchmark stock index gained for the first time in three days, led by commodity exporters including BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc. 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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