JOHANNESBURG, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The South African rand was firm on Tuesday, supported by stronger precious metals prices ahead of local central bank data that the market expects will give insight into the country’s economic outlook.
At 1400 GMT, the rand traded at 15.9950 per dollar , roughly 0.3% above Monday’s close.
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Gold and other precious metals exports, such as platinum , hit record highs on Monday, helping the rand to break through 16 to the dollar for the first time since June 2022.Gold rose further on Tuesday but platinum retreated.Investors looked at South Africa’s composite leading business cycle indicator (ZALEAD=ECI), opens new tab for November, which rose by 1.4% month on month, central bank data showed on Tuesday.
The indicator collects data on vehicle sales, business confidence, money supply and other factors to gauge the outlook for Africa’s biggest economy.
Investors’ focus will pivot to South Africa’s first interest rate announcement (ZAREPO=ECI), opens new tab of 2026 on Thursday.
In a Reuters poll, 18 of 26 analysts polled by Reuters expected the central bank to leave its repo rate unchanged, and eight predicted a 25-basis-point rate cut to 6.50%.
Other domestic releases this week include producer inflation (ZAPPIY=ECI), opens new tab numbers on Thursday, while money supply (ZAM3=ECI), opens new tab, private sector credit (ZACRED=ECI), opens new tab, trade balance (ZATBAL=ECI), opens new tab and budget balance (ZABUD=ECI), opens new tab figures are all due on Friday.On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index (.JTOPI), opens new tab was last down 0.4%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was weak, as the yield rose 2 basis points to 8.135%.
Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Anathi Madubela; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Barbara Lewis
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