JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand firmed on Friday, after slumping the day before on a stronger U.S. dollar and mixed local data.
At 1502 GMT, the rand traded at 18.7000 against the dollar, about 0.2% stronger than its previous close.
The local currency slipped more than 1% on Thursday at one point after the dollar firmed on the back of U.S. inflation data. The greenback had trimmed its gains to trade up about 0.03% against a basket of global currencies on Friday.
The rand’s weakness was also fuelled by domestic data, which showed a total mining output drop of 3.3% year-on-year in January, while gold production was down 12.7% in the same period.
Investors will now turn their focus toward South Africa’s inflation figures due next week.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed down 0.63% while the broader all-share slipped 0.53%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was unchanged, with the yield at 10.240%.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Nellie PeytonEditing by Gerry Doyle and Frances Kerry)
