South Africa's rand firmed against the dollar on Monday, helped by better appetite for risky assets after markets were rattled last week by debt concerns in Dubai.

Traders said the rand was little affected by data showing demand for credit by South Africa's private sector fell for the first time since 1966 in October, pointing to tight credit conditions that will lead to a slow recovery from recession.
At 0641 GMT the rand traded 0.5 percent firmer at 7.3750 versus the dollar after closing Friday's session at 7.4120.
"This week we've got a heavy (global) data calender and the market continues to digest concerns about Dubai and the potential for intervention in the yen," said Absa Capital trader Duncan Howes.
"All of this is going to keep volatility in foreign exchange markets quite elevated. This morning we'll probably find some support for risky assets as there's been some relief in the Dubai story, so risky assets are rebounding quite strongly after Friday," he added, predicting the rand could test stronger levels around 7.30/32.
The United Arab Emirates offered banks emergency support on Sunday, the first steps to ease fears that a looming debt default by two of Dubai's flagship firms could derail the global economic recovery.
Part of the rand's gains came after data showed credit demand fell by 0.42 percent year-on-year in October from a 1.49 percent growth in September, but there was no real link, Howes said, adding: "The broader global market events are overshadowing local data at this stage."
South African government bonds followed the rand firmer, and yields inversely edged lower, with the 2015 bond yield dipping 2.5 basis points to 8.44 percent.
The yield on the 2036 note was down 4 basis points at 8.93 percent.
FIFA to hold meeting on notorious Robben Island

World soccer's leaders meet this week on an island notorious for its once brutal prison but where the game offered relief and hope for hundreds of anti-apartheid activists.
FIFA's executive committee will hold a meeting on Thursday on Robben Island which lies in the middle of Cape Town's Table Bay and was for more than 18 years the jail that housed Nelson Mandela.
It will be a symbolic gesture on the eve of the World Cup draw in Cape Town and highlights how football was played by political prisoners jailed on the island by South Africa's old apartheid government.
The existence of soccer leagues among the prisoners was not documented until the publication of 'More Than Just a Game' by Chuck Korr and Marvin Close in 2007.
The book, which has since been made into a feature film, details the exploits of the Makana Football Association, a group created by inmates.
Among the leaders of the group was South Africa President Jacob Zuma, once a defensive player and later a referee.
Soccer's rulers have since awarded the Makana FA associate membership of FIFA.
The sport was at first banned on Robben Island and prisoners were punished for persistently asking to play.
RED CROSS
It took three years of requests plus the intervention of the Red Cross and anti-apartheid Parliamentarian Helen Suzman before inmates were allowed to compete.
Originally it was for only 30 minutes on a Saturday. The first game was held on a windy December morning in 1967 between Rangers and Bucks.
A constitution was written for the association, committees were formed, disciplinary sanctions imposed and there were even authorised transfers, often on tiny scraps of paper.
Many of the political detainees had played regularly before being imprisoned, some at semi-professional level such as former South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe and Patrick Lekota, later to become Defence Minister.
"Prisoners used any material they could lay their hands on to make a football," said Tokyo Sexwale of his time playing on the island while detained for anti-apartheid activities.
"We played with whatever was available and the football nets were made from real fishing nets which had been washed up on the island. We asked for permission to pick them up from the shore."
Sexwale is now the government's Minister of Human Settlement.
The meticulously-kept records of the association were uncovered in 1993 by Korr who based his book on 70 boxes of details of football activity on the island.
Mandela, who was jailed there from 1964-1982 but eventually led South Africa to majority rule in 1994, was forbidden from participating.
The prison is now a museum and a major tourist attraction. Makana was the name of a Xhosa tribal leader jailed on the island by the British in the early 1800s.
--reuters--