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Johannesburg - The rand was slightly softer against the dollar early on Tuesday with scope to weaken further should a South African Reserve Bank report show a wider-than-expected current account deficit.
The local unit tends to be hit harder than its peers when investors bail out of emerging markets which offer higher yields but are perceived to carry greater risk.
At 08:32 the rand traded at R12.4180 to the dollar, down 0.19% from where it ended Monday's New York session.
Government debt also eased, with paper maturing in 2026 inching up 1.5 basis points to 7.955%.
Having taken its cue mainly from global trends in recent days, the forex market was largely focused on the Sarb's quarterly bulletin due out at 10:00.
Economists polled by Reuters expected data to show the current account narrowed slightly to 5.8% of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2014, from 6% in the third.
"After a series of below-expected data prints, including mining and manufacturing data last week, as well as news regarding Eskom, some compression in the current account would be welcome news for the rand," Standard Bank said in a note.
READ: SA manufacturing output down
State power utility Eskom's struggles to meet demand, while ensuring the national grid does not collapse, have underpinned the structural constraints hampering growth.
