Johannesburg - The rand fell marginally on Wednesday as the market waited for domestic trade data later in the day and money supply numbers on Thursday.
At 08:45, the rand was 0.23% softer at R15.345/$. Government bonds were weaker, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 up 6.5 basis points to 9.625%.
South Africa is expected to post a narrower trade deficit of R3.2bn in November after recording one of R21.4bn in October - a number that stunned local markets and pushed the rand to record lows at the time. The data is due for release at 14:00.
In the equities market, the JSE securities exchange's Top 40 futures index was up 0.44%, pointing to gains for the index.