Rand firms on Tuesday

The rand was firmer in early trade on Tuesday.

At 08:30, the rand traded at R17.59 against the dollar.

October mining, and October and November business confidence numbers are due around 0930 GMT.

They will shed further light on the economy’s fourth-quarter momentum after a surprisingly strong showing in the third quarter.

On global markets, the focus was on US inflation data later in the day and the final Federal Reserve meeting of the year this week.

The dollar was slightly weaker against a basket of currencies.