JOHANNESBURG, Oct 16 Reuters The South African rand strengthened in early trade on Monday as tensions in the Middle East underpinned the price of oil and put the dollar on the backfoot.

At 0628 GMT, the rand traded at 18.9500 against the dollar , about 0.4 stronger than its previous close.

The dollar eased 0.1 against a basket of other major currencies.

There are lots of stresses in global financial markets which risks spilling into rand volatility, but USDZAR looks happy around 19.00 and potentially rangebound for the next few weeks, said Rand Merchant Bank analysts in a morning briefing.

IsraeliHamas tensions have spiked again, prompting the price of oil to jump on concerns that Iran will be dragged into the conflict, RMB added.

Local investors will this week turn their attention to consumer inflation and retail sales data for hints on the South African Reserve Bank39;s potential interest rate path when it meets in November.

South Africa39;s benchmark 2030 government bond was flat in early deals at 10.720.

Reporting by Tannur Anders; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

Source Reuters