Rand weaker ahead of local data releases, Fed meeting

The rand fell on Thursday as investors await local data releases and the US’s Federal Reserve’s meeting later in the day.

At 0717 GMT, the rand fell 0.43% to 13.97 to the dollar, having firmed against a weaker dollar on Wednesday after US midterm elections split Congress. This is seen as lowering the chance of any major US fiscal policy boost soon.

The rand is expected to trade in the range of R13.70 to R14.05 to the dollar, an NKC note said.

“Focus turns to the Fed meeting, with markets expecting rates to remain unchanged. However, investors will peruse the Fed’s statement for clues on future monetary-policy setting,” said Rand Merchant Bank analysts said in a note.

South Africa will publish manufacturing data and mining production figures for September on Thursday. A Reuters poll forecasts total mining to rise 0.30%.

Bonds were weaker, with the yield on government’s 10-year paper up 4.5 basis points to 9.115%.

On the bourse, the All Share Index opened flat at 54 708 point.