Johannesburg - The rand steadied against the dollar on
Tuesday, trading cautiously ahead of key local data released the day ahead of a
constitutional court ruling in Germany on whether Berlin can take part in a
permanent eurozone bailout fund.
The rand traded at R8.1755 at 06:02 GMT against the dollar,
little changed from Monday's New York close of R8.19 after hitting a one-month
high against the dollar in the previous session.
"The rand at the moment is moving in relation to the
bigger strength of euro/dollar," said Garth Klintworth, head of fixed
income commodities and currencies at Absa Capital.
The rand often follows the single currency, the unit of its
main trading partner. The euro hovered just below a nearly four-month peak
against the dollar as traders grew wary after the currency's sharp gains late
last week.
South Africa's Reserve Bank is due to release its quarterly
bulletin, including current account data, for the second quarter at 08:00 GMT,
followed by a Statistics South Africa data release of manufacturing production
output for July at 11:00 GMT.
Economists surveyed by Reuters showed the current account
deficit is moderating slightly to 4.7% of GDP in the second quarter of this
year from a deficit 4.9% in the first quarter due to robust portfolio inflows
into assets.
Manufacturing is likely to have jumped 6% in year-on-year in
volume terms in July from 0.8% in June.
Factory output was slow in the previous months due to the
contagion effect in Europe.
Bond yields are expected to rally should the number
disappoint as fixed income players price in the possibility of further interest
rate cuts.
The Reserve Bank cut the repo rate to its 40-year low in an
effort to stimulate growth in Africa's biggest economy.
Government bond yields were flat, with the three-year yield
at 5.35% and that on the longer dated 14-year paper at 7.27%.
South Africa will sell a total of R2.1bn in 2023, 2041 and
2048 government bonds in an auction on Tuesday that is expected to be well
received.
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