JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand was down marginally on Tuesday, despite fragile risk sentiment driven by the Israel-Iran conflict, and ahead of key domestic economic data on Wednesday.
At 1403 GMT the rand traded at 17.85 against the dollar, 0.2% softer than Monday’s close.
While concerns of a prolonged Middle East conflict have increased market risk aversion, the rand has only seen modest weakening due to a suppressed U.S.
dollar, Investec analysts said in a note.
Domestic investors will look to consumer inflation and retail sales figures due on Wednesday, which may influence the South African Reserve Bank’s thinking on monetary policy, though its next rate decision is not due till the end of July.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index last traded down 0.7%, with gold and platinum miners leading losses.
Weekly data by the stock exchange operator showed in the day that offshore investors sold a net 12.22 billion rand ($685.28 million) of South African stocks last week.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was stronger, with the yield falling 3.5 basis points to 10.105%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Alessandro Parodi; Editnig by Kim Coghill and Bernadette Baum)
