JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand slipped against the dollar on Friday after the central bank released its quarterly bulletin.
At 1317 GMT, the rand traded at 17.8975 against the greenback, about 0.7% weaker than its previous close.
The dollar was last down 0.1% against a basket of other major currencies but still headed for its best weekly performance in a month as investors priced in the possibility of the Federal Reserve reducing rates more cautiously next year.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said the country recorded foreign direct investment outflows of 3.2 billion rand ($179.87 million) in the third quarter, compared to inflows of 16.6 billion in the second.
It attributed the outflows to domestic subsidiaries of multinational companies paying back loans to parent companies.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index was up about 0.7%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 5.5 basis points at 8.92%.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Alexander Smith)
