JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand weakened against the dollar on Friday, weighed down by risk-off sentiment as a worldwide cyber outage cut across sectors and worried investors.
At 1546 GMT, the rand traded at 18.27 against the dollar, down around 0.1% from its previous close.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was last up 0.17% as the cyber outage affecting banks, airlines and broadcasters unnerved investors, although volatility in the currency markets remained in check.
Next week, domestic investors will focus on South Africa’s June inflation reading for hints on the central bank’s future interest rate path.
“Looking ahead, South Africa’s inflation rate, expected to slow to 5.1% from 5.2% (in May), will be crucial,” Nkosilathi Dube, a financial market analyst, said.
“A slowdown in inflation could strengthen the case for a rate cut, potentially further weighing on the rand’s performance in the coming weeks,” Dube added.
The South African Reserve Bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at 8.25% on Thursday for the seventh meeting in a row.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed about 0.6% lower.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, as the yield gained 5.5 basis points to trade at 9.65%.
(Reporting by Tannur Anders, Bhargav Acharya and Hereward Holland; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Andrew Heavens)
