JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand weakened on Tuesday, after data released earlier in the day showed a rise in first-quarter unemployment figures, providing a steer on the health of the local economy after a week of market turbulence.
At 1515 GMT the rand traded at 19.0900 against the dollar, about 0.34% weaker than Monday’s close.
Statistics South Africa on Tuesday released the country’s unemployment figures for the January-March period which showed a rise in unemployment to 32.9%, up from 32.7% in the previous quarter.
The rand was pummelled last week, reaching a record low against the backdrop of power cuts that show no sign of abating and claims that South Africa had provided arms to Russia.
Struggling state power utility Eskom is implementing the worst rolling blackouts on record, leaving businesses and households in the dark for up to 10 hours a day.
The blackouts are crippling the economy, with JP Morgan predicting that South African economic output would contract this year by 0.2% as a result.
Shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended the day down, with both the blue-chip Top-40 index and the broader all-share index closing around 0.4% lower.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond marginally weaker, with the yield up 1 basis points at 10.755%.
(Reporting by Tannur Anders; Editing by Rashmi Aich; Editing by Bhargav Acharya and David Goodman)
