South African rand slips ahead of CPI, central bank meetings

File photo: South African Rand coins are seen in this illustration picture taken November 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/Illustration/File photo

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand weakened on Monday at the start of a week that will include South African inflation figures and several major central bank rate decisions.

At 1507 GMT, the rand traded at 18.9650 against the U.S. dollar, 1.15% weaker than its previous close.

The dollar was last trading up about 0.03% against a basket of global currencies.

Central banks in the United States, Japan, Britain and Australia will all announce rate decisions this week, with most expected to leave policy unchanged.

Locally, investors’ focus will be on February inflation figures, which will be released on Wednesday.

“The rand could be in for a volatile week as it will have to navigate some risks in the U.S. dollar, where inflation is still proving a little tough to tame,” said Andre Cilliers, Currency Strategist at TreasuryONE.

“Should the Fed minutes come out a little dovish, we could see the rand trending stronger,” he added in a research note.

On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed down 0.74% while the broader all-share ended 0.77% lower.

South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond fell, with the yield up 12 basis points to 10.485%.

(Reporting by Nellie Peyton with additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Alex Richardson)