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Rand steadies, focus on interest rate decision

Johannesburg - The rand was steady early on Thursday but looked vulnerable to a strengthening dollar and a local interest-rate decision due later in the day.

At 08:50, the rand traded at R15.8500/$ the dollar, not far off its New York close on Wednesday of 15.8700.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve's April meeting released overnight "were very hawkish and expectations of a US rate hike in June appears to be back on the table, which in turn has favoured the dollar," Nedbank Capital analysts Mohammed Nalla and Reezwana Sumad said in a note.

"Local focus will be on the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) monetary policy committee meeting later this afternoon. Ahead of the SARB meeting we expect liquidity to remain at a premium."

Economists said a slowdown in South African inflation reported on Wednesday bolstered the case for leaving rates unchanged.

Stocks were set to open lower at 09:00, with the JSE securities exchange's Top-40 futures index down 0.47%.

The yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was down 1 basis point at 9.465%.

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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,016.25
+1.4%
Gold
2,221.48
+1.2%
Silver
24.88
+1.0%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
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