JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand was little changed on Tuesday as the dollar slipped ahead of a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.
At 1535 GMT, the rand traded at 18.5675 against the dollar, not far from its previous close.
The dollar was last trading down about 0.25% at 103.32 against a basket of global currencies.
The U.S. Labor Department’s consumer price index report on Tuesday showed the smallest annual increase in inflation in more than two years, further fuelling expectations that the Fed would announce a pause in interest rate hikes on Wednesday.
Locally, Statistics South Africa figures showed the country’s total mining output rose 2.3% year-on-year in April compared with a revised 2.2% fall in March.
The rand gained almost 1% on Monday on the back of shorter power cuts at home and reduced tensions between South Africa and the West over Russia, analysts said.
“We definitely seem to have calmed the market in a way since the Russian fiasco and infrastructural problems made its mark on the rand but I am sceptical if they won’t slip back into headlines again,” said Casparus Treurnicht, a Gryphon Asset Management portfolio manager.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, both the blue-chip Top-40 index and the broader all-share index ended over 2% higher.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was stronger, with the yield down 5 basis points to 10.715%.
(Reporting by Tannur Anders and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Nellie Peyton, Ed Osmond & Conor Humphries)
