Johannesburg - The rand was steady against the dollar on
Wednesday ahead of domestic inflation data as markets also await the Federal
Reserve's policy meeting announcement.
At 07:30 GMT the rand was little changed at R8.6535 against
the greenback after ending Tuesday's New York session at R8.6551.
Consumer price inflation figures are due at 08:00 GMT, with
economists expecting year-on-year inflation to have remained steady at 5.6% in
November.
A higher number could raise the prospect of monetary tightening
next year which could be supportive of the currency while inflation on the
downside would raise hopes that rates could be cut again, which might push the
currency weaker.
"The rand remains relatively range bound, it had that
initial rally and then after that we've seen the rand actually supported around
R8.60," said Brigid Taylor, head of institutional sales at Nedbank.
Government bonds edged up in early trade, with yields down a
single basis point on the benchmark 14-year bond to 7.31% and the three-year
issue, which was at 5.425%.
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