South Africa’s rand was slightly weaker on Tuesday ahead of a court ruling on the Central Bank’s inflation targeting mandate and an economic update by ratings agency, Moody’s.
The rand traded at 13.3400 against the dollar, down 0.2 per cent from its New York close at 13.3225.
The high court is expected to rule on a report by the nation’s anti-graft watchdog in June which called on lawmakers to amend South Africa’s constitution to loosen the central bank from its inflation targeting mandate.
The central bank has approached the court to set the report aside as the watchdog’s report is binding.
The rand weakened when the public protector initially announced her recommendations as this statement rumped on the central bank’s independence,” said RMB Global Markets analyst, Isaah Mhlanga.
Moody’s is also scheduled to release its economic update on Tuesday.
“We expect the agency to revise its economic growth forecast to below 1.0 per cent in 2017 and below 2.0 per cent in 2018,” Mhlanga added.
Stocks were down slightly 0.1per cent at 0717 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s benchmark Top-40 index galling 0.1 per cent.
Government bonds firmed and the yield for the benchmark instrument due in 2026 was down 0.5 basis points to 8.6 per cent. (Reuters/NAN)