JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand was broadly stable on Friday after a local purchasing managers’ index (PMI) survey showed factory activity bouncing back last month.
At 1508 GMT, the rand traded at 19.1775 against the dollar, not far from its previous close.
The dollar index was also little changed.
South African manufacturing activity recovered in February after a slumping the month before, possibly signalling some alleviation of the congestion and disruption at local harbours, said Absa, which sponsors the PMI.
South Africa is facing a logistics crisis at its rail and port operator Transnet which has hurt business activity in Africa’s most industrialised economy.
“The rand has traded in a more stable fashion this week although remains not far off its worst levels of the year against its developed market currency peers,” said Shaun Murison, a senior market analyst at IG.
Next week will see local GDP data on Tuesday and U.S.
employment data on Friday as potential catalysts for the domestic currency, he said.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed down 0.02% while the broader all-share index was 0.06% higher.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was marginally stronger, with the yield down 0.5 basis points to 10.125%.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Nellie Peyton; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
