JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand weakened against a stronger dollar on Tuesday as investors shifted their focus towards monthly U.S. and local inflation figures.
At 1517 GMT, the rand traded at 17.85 against the U.S. dollar, about 0.4% weaker than Monday’s close.
The greenback was last trading up about 0.39% against a basket of currencies as markets awaited further clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate trajectory ahead of U.S. consumer price data due on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, South Africa-focused investors will look to the statistics agency at 0800 GMT on Wednesday for the release of November inflation figures. Economists polled by Reuters predict annual inflation of 3.1% last month.
The rand was little affected by positive local economic data releases on Tuesday, with South Africa’s manufacturing output rising 0.8% year-on-year (YoY) in October and mining output increasing 1.4% YoY in the same month.
South African business confidence also saw its biggest YoY improvement in almost two years in November, boosted by higher tourist numbers, precious metal prices and new vehicle sales, data showed.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed about 0.4% lower.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 7 basis points at 8.97%.
(Reporting by Tannur Anders and Bhargav Acharya; editing by Sumana Nandy and Mark Heinrich)
