The South African Rand has risen to R8.4168 against the US dollar compared to a previous close of R8.4517 as the US lawmakers reached on an agreement to avoid the US fiscal cliff.

The South African Rand was trading at R11.1801 against the euro compared to a previous close of R11.1520 and at R13.7434 against the UK pound compared to R13.7227 earlier. The US lawmakers reached a last minute deal to avoid the fiscal cliff situation.

The agreement resulted in improved investor sentiment and enabled investors to sell the US dollar, which is world's largest reserve currency. The US senators have finally passed a legislation to avoid the automatic changes in the taxes and spending in the US economy. With a pre-dawn vote of 89-8, the senate will now be able to avoid a combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts. The law now paves the way for a decision in the House of Representatives, where the vote is expected on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The benchmark R186 was trading at 7.250 percent from a previous close of 7.265 percent.

The Top-40 index is up 1.2 percent at 35,241.99 and the All-Share rose over 1 percent to 39,691.39 soon after the opening of the stock market.