South African rand strengthens against US dollar
Business
Retail sales predicted to decrease by 0.1% in December, annual inflation to drop to 6.9% in January
JOHANESBERG (Web Desk) - Tuesday saw a strengthening of the South African rand versus the US dollar which dropped to a two-week low as statistics revealed that US inflation increased at the weakest rate in 16 months.
The rand was trading at 17.7800 versus the dollar at 15:14 GMT, up almost 0.3% from the previous close.
The dollar dropped as statistics revealed that although consumer prices increased in January their annual increase was the smallest since October 2021 supporting views that the Federal Reserve may be reaching the end of its cycle of tightening monetary policy.
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry will release its Business Confidence Index on Wednesday along with data on retail sales and inflation. Retail sales are predicted to decrease by 0.1% in December from growth of 0.4% in November, according to economists surveyed by Reuters. Annual inflation is predicted to drop to 6.9% in January from 7.2% in December.
The All-share index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange increased by 0.11%. After Telkom disclosed cost-cutting efforts to support profitability, its shares finished 5.27% higher.
The yield on South Africa's benchmark 2030 bond decreased by one basis point to 9.84% hardly changing.
