Rand steady in early trade

The rand was little changed in early trade on Thursday.

At 0637 GMT, the rand traded at R19.06 against the US dollar.

With no major local economic data releases expected on Thursday, the focus could be on President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will respond to a parliamentary debate on his state of the nation address (SONA) and answer questions from journalists.

Ramaphosa is due to speak in parliament from around 1200 GMT, after which he will interact with the press club.

The president used the SONA speech to play up his party’s achievements in an election year, but he gave little new information about plans to address major challenges like power shortages and a logistics crisis.

South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was stronger in early deals, the yield down 5 basis points to 10.115%.