Rand little changed against the dollar

The rand was little changed early on Friday, after slumping the day before on a stronger dollar and mixed local data.

At 0703 GMT, the rand traded at R18.72 against the dollar.

The local currency slipped more than 1% on Thursday at one point after the dollar firmed on the back of US inflation data. The greenback was last trading 0.03% stronger against a basket of currencies on Friday.

The rand’s weakness was also fuelled by domestic data, which showed a total mining output drop of 3.3% year-on-year in January, while gold production was down 12.7% in the same period.

South African investors will now turn their focus toward local inflation figures due next week.

On the stock market, the Top-40 index was down 0.6% while the broader all-share slipped 0.5% in early trade.

South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was unchanged in early deals, with the yield at 10.240%.