JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand fell on Tuesday, weighed down by worries over the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against the Omicron variant, ahead of a data-heavy Wednesday.
At 1543 GMT, the rand traded at 16.1100 against the dollar, 0.6% weaker than its previous close.
A real-world study published by South African insurer Discovery showed Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine had been less effective at keeping people infected with the coronavirus out of hospital since the Omicron variant emerged last month.
With several domestic data releases set for Wednesday, including the November consumer price index, producer inflation and a leading business cycle indicator, investors preferred not to take big risks.
The sentiment globally was also cautious as policymakers at the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England weigh the pace of interest rate rises needed to curb higher inflation.
Stocks were mixed on the Johannesburg Exchange.
The market got a boost late in the session as Britain, a major source of tourists for South Africa, removed the country and other southern African nations from its “red list” of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The All-share index ended up 0.16% at 71,545 points while the blue-chip Top-40 index gained 0.05% to close at 65,212 points.
Among decliners, South African petrochemical company and motor fuel supplier Sasol fell 6% after cutting the production forecast for one of its plants due to drop in coal supply.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Alexander Winning; Editing by Aditya Soni)
