(Reuters) -South Africa’s rand rose against the dollar and stocks fell on Wednesday, after U.S. inflation for June came in higher than expected, raising bets about another big Federal Reserve interest rate increase.
At 1555 GMT, the rand traded at 16.9200 against the dollar, 0.7% stronger than its previous close.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, dropped over 0.3% to 107.800.
Data showed U.S. consumer prices accelerated to 9.1% in June as gasoline and food costs remained elevated, resulting in the largest annual increase in inflation since 1981.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index closed down 1.53% at 60,031 points while the broader all-share dropped 1.52% to 66,142 points.
South Africa’s retail sales rose 0.1% year on year in May after rising by a revised 4.3% in April. On a month-on-month basis, sales were down 1.0%.
“Even though the retail sector continued to grow in May, the growth rate slowed significantly as consumers started to feel the pinch of higher food, fuel, and energy prices,” economists at Nedbank said in a note.
Among retailers feeling the pain was Walmart majority-owned Massmart, which fell almost 8% to the bottom of the All-Share Index.
The government’s benchmark 2030 bond was barely changed with the yield at 10.795%.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Anait Miridzhanian in Gdansk and Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jonathan Oatis)
