JOHANNESBURG, Dec 8 (Reuters) – The rand was muted on Monday as traders assessed Moody’s decision to keep South Africa’s credit rating and outlook unchanged, ahead of key data releases that will give indications of demand and output trends at the start of the fourth quarter.
At 1252 GMT, the rand traded at 16.9675 against the dollar, about 0.2% weaker than Friday’s close.
Moody’s kept South Africa’s credit rating at Ba2, saying its decision reflected the nation’s “low growth potential”, and left the outlook stable.
Nedbank economists had expected the ratings agency to at least revise South Africa’s outlook to positive from stable.
“The stable outlook reflects our expectation that while economic growth is likely to improve, it will remain modest, with the government’s debt burden remaining elevated, albeit stable, over the medium term,” Moody’s said.
Investor attention will shift to retail sales data on Wednesday, and mining and manufacturing production figures on Thursday, while global traders also keep tabs on an interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve for clues on the health of the world’s largest economy.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last down 1%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was also flat, with the yield at 8.405%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Anathi Madubela;Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Andrew Heavens)
