JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand advanced on Monday, supported by higher precious metals prices and shrugging off weaker-than-expected manufacturing numbers.
At 1441 GMT, the rand traded at around 14.6125 against the dollar, around 0.2% stronger than its previous close.
Key South African exports like platinum group metals touched new highs because of supply concerns after newly refined Russian platinum and palladium were suspended from trading in London from Friday. Spot gold also gained.
But domestic statistics agency data showed February manufacturing output rose 0.2% year on year, less than the forecast 3.1% and revised growth of 2.0% in January.
Stocks were impacted by the soft manufacturing data, with the Johannesburg All-Share index dropping 0.47% to 74,426 points and the Top-40 index falling 0.5% to 67,405 points.
Companies with manufacturing capabilities weakened, with the industrial index down 0.16%, led by pharmaceutical giant Aspen Pharmacare down 4.19, while diversified industrial company Barloworld fell 1.50% and budget clothing and homeware retailer Mr Price weakened 1.8%.
“Growth in the manufacturing sector continued in February, although at a much slower pace. However, risks to the outlook are tilted to the downside, as the ongoing war in Ukraine and tighter global monetary policies could negatively impact global growth and slowdown international trade,” economists at Nedbank said.
Later this week South Africa-focused investors will look to retail sales and mining figures for more clues about economic growth in Africa’s most industrialised nation.
Government bonds weakened, with the yield on the benchmark 2030 maturity rising 4 basis points to 9.635%.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Alexander Winning and Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
