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Cape Town - The rand remained stable under R13 to the US dollar on Tuesday following the news that South Africa has exited a technical recession.
Statistician general Pali Lehohla announced earlier that South Africa's gross domestic product has rebounded with 2.5% growth for the second quarter of the year.
This is an improvement from the contraction reported for the two previous consecutive quarters. GDP declined 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 0.7% in the first quarter of 2017.
By 12:06 the local unit was trading 0.21% firmer than its previous close at R12.94/$.
"The currency market is unfazed by this, as it was largely expected," said TreasuryOne in a snap note.
The rand was trading in a narrow band between R12.94 and R12.99 to the greenback on Tuesday.
Second-quarter data shows year-on-year GDP growth was 1.1%, and for the six months growth has been 1.1%. The nominal GDP is estimated at R1.145bn.
Lehohla described growth in the agricultural sector as “shooting through the roof” by 33.6%. He however said agriculture production did not contribute significantly to number of people employed because of mechanisation. The 33% growth comes off a low base.
Among the growth sectors, mining grew 3.9% contributing 0.3 of a percentage point to overall growth. The secondary sector grew 1.9%, the manufacturing industry increased 1.5% and electricity production was up 8.8%.
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