S.Africa rand sees daily gain but down steeply for year

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand rallied as much as 1.3 percent against the dollar on the last trading day of the year on Thursday, but was set to finish among the biggest annual losers in a year of global risk aversion linked to the euro zone debt crisis. The appeal of higher yields has however partly shielded local debt from the sell-off, with benchmark bonds ending the year sharply off September's multi-month highs when the flight to safe havens accelerated. By 1502 GMT the local currency was 1.24 percent stronger against the dollar at 8.0804 compared with Wednesday's close at ...