JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand weakened on Thursday against a stronger dollar as investors digested the hawkish rate cut from the Federal Reserve and the trade deal made by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on rare earths.
At 1442 GMT the rand traded at 17.3175 against the dollar, roughly down 0.7% on Wednesday’s close.
The dollar last traded about 0.4% firmer against a basket of currencies.
Domestically focused investors had their eyes on September producer inflation figures and budget balance data for the same month for clues on the health of Africa’s largest economy.
Statistics agency data earlier showed producer inflation was at 2.3% year on year in September, up from 2.1% in August. Economists polled by Reuters expected it to rise to 2.6%.
The country’s economy recorded a budget deficit of 15.36 billion rand ($887.22 million), National Treasury data showed.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last down 0.7%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond also traded weaker with yield rising 2.5 basis points to 8.87%.
(Reporting by Anathi Madubela and Sfundo Parakozov)
