Rand treads water, focus on Eskom results

The rand weakened against the dollar in early trade on Tuesday as investors looked ahead to state-owned Eskom’s financial results and unemployment data out later in the day.

At 0705 GMT, the rand fell 0.34% to 14.21 per dollar.

State power firm Eskom financial results for the 2018/19 financial year are expected to show a large loss and steep increase in debt.

Rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s last week both warned about fiscal pressure on South Africa and highlighted Eskom as a risk, piling pressure on the currency.

Read: Fitch downgrades outlook on South Africa’s credit rating

Statistics South Africa will also release second-quarter unemployment figures on Tuesday.

In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was up 3 basis points to 8.345%.

Stocks opened slightly weaker with the All-share index down 0.14% to 57 954 points, while the Top-40 index dipped 0.05% to 51 950 points.