South Africa's rand weakens as virus fears knock risk appetite

South Africa's rand weakened in early trade on Monday, as investors fled riskier assets following the rapid spread of the coronavirus outside mainland China, with traders cautious ahead of a closely watched budget speech this week.

At 0650 GMT, the rand traded at 15.1110 per dollar, 0.66% weaker than its close on Friday.

"A sharp rise in the spread of the Covid-19 virus in South Korea, Iran and Italy is causing renewed market jitters," said Bianca Botes, treasury partner at Peregrine Treasury Solutions, in a note.

South Korea put the country on high alert as the number of infections jumped to over 700 and deaths rose to seven. In Italy, officials said a third person infected with the flu-like virus had died, while the number of cases jumped to above 150 from just three before Friday.

Iran, which announced its first infections last week, said it had confirmed 43 cases and eight deaths, with most of the infections in the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom.

Locally, the focus is on Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's budget speech on Wednesday, where he is expected to raise personal income and excise tax to try to contain the fiscal deficit at a budget review on Feb. 26, a Reuters poll found on Friday.

In fixed income, the yield on the instrument due in 2030 was up 3.5 basis points to 8.855%.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)