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The South African rand strengthened further in early Wednesday trading, riding on a softer U.S. dollar ahead of key economic data releases — the domestic business confidence index and retail sales figures, both due later in the day.
By 06:25 GMT, the rand stood at 17.5450 per dollar, up about 0.4% from Tuesday’s close, building on gains of more than 1% from the previous session.
The dollar, meanwhile, was holding steady against a basket of major currencies. “With the U.S. expecting further rate cuts and the dollar under mild pressure, it’s hard to see an immediate reason for the rand to suddenly weaken — unless we manage to score a few of our own goals,” remarked Wichard Cilliers, head of market risk at TreasuryONE.
“That said, markets remain on a knife-edge, and in the short term, headlines will dictate direction,” he added.
At 09:30 GMT, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) will publish its latest business confidence index, offering fresh insight into private sector sentiment in Africa’s most industrialised economy. Two and a half hours later, at 11:00 GMT, the statistics agency will release retail sales data.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was also slightly firmer in early trade, with the yield ticking up 1.5 basis points to 9.65%.
