JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand firmed against a weaker U.S. dollar at the start of a week that will include the central bank’s decision on its interest rates.
At 1535 GMT, the rand traded at 18.9100 against the dollar on Monday, around 0.5% stronger than its previous close.
The dollar was last trading down about 0.2% against a basket of global currencies.
Like most emerging market currencies, the rand tends to take cues from the dollar in the absence of major economic data.
Local investors will look toward the South African Reserve Bank’s rate announcement on Wednesday after inflation rose to 5.6% in February, nearing the top end of the central bank’s preferred range of 3-6%.
“The focus will be on the … decision and guidance, with expectations leaning towards maintaining current rates but with keen interest on future rate cut projections,” said Andre Cilliers, currency strategist, TreasuryONE.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed almost unchanged.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was flat in late deals, with the yield up 1 basis points to 10.475%.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Ed Osmond)
