JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand rose against a softer dollar on Tuesday, as traders awaited domestic inflation figures and the finance minister’s budget speech due on Wednesday.
As of 1605 GMT, the rand traded at 18.9100 against the dollar, over 0.2% stronger than its previous close.
The dollar index was last down around 0.3%.
Economists predict Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget to show some slippage from last year’s mid-term budget, with weaker mining tax receipts contributing to wider budget deficits, a Reuters poll published last week showed.
Inflation numbers are expected to show a slight increase to 5.4% year-on-year in January from 5.1% in the prior month. The central bank has said it wants to see a clearer disinflation trend before cutting interest rates.
Data from Statistics South Africa showed on Tuesday the country’s official unemployment rate rose in the fourth quarter of last year to 32.1% from 31.9% in the third quarter.
“Given the country’s structural issues, still subdued global demand, and low commodity prices, employment in agriculture, mining, and manufacturing will likely decline further in 2024,” Nedbank analysts said in a note.
On the stock market, the Top-40 and the broader all-share indexes closed around 0.9% lower.
Shares in miner Kumba Iron Ore fell around 2% following the announcement of its plans to cut about 490 jobs amid South Africa’s persistent rail bottlenecks.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was slightly stronger, with the yield down 3 basis points to 10.105%.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Ros Russell)
