Rand slips on Thursday

The rand weakened in early trade on Thursday ahead of September producer inflation figures and was dragged down by a stronger dollar as US Treasury yields spiked on fears that interest rates will remain high.

The rand was at 19.21 against the dollar, in early trade.

The dollar last traded around 0.2% stronger against a basket of global currencies.

On Thursday morning Statistics South Africa will publish the country’s Producer Price Index (PPI) for September, giving clues on the health of Africa’s most industrialised economy.

Analysts polled by Reuters predict producer inflation of 4.7% year-on-year in September and 1.1% month-on-month.

South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker in early deals, with the yield up 9.5 basis points to 10.725%.