JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand slipped on Monday after a strong July performance, on the back of weak Chinese manufacturing data that analysts say has put pressure on emerging market currencies.
At 1505 GMT, the rand traded at 17.8000 against the dollar, over 1.1% weaker than its previous close on Friday.
The dollar was little changed at 101.64 against a basket of global currencies.
“After a volatile week last week, the rand has been pushed back by underwhelming Chinese manufacturing PMI … that has filtered across global markets with the largest impact (on) commodity linked currencies like the (rand),” said DailyFX analyst Warren Venketas in a research note.
Like other emerging market currencies, the risk-sensitive rand often takes cues from economic data points coming out of global players such as China and the United States.
Despite the losses for the day, the rand has gained more than 5% against the dollar this month.
Data released by the South African Revenue Service on Monday showed the country recorded a 3.52 billion rand ($198.13 million) trade deficit in June. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a trade surplus of 11.85 billion rand.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the blue-chip Top 40 index ended up 0.7% while the broader all-share index closed 0.6% higher.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 2.5 basis points to 10.210%.
($1 = 17.7662 rand)
(Reporting by Tannur Anders; Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Mark Potter)
