JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand weakened against a stronger dollar on Wednesday after domestic inflation figures came in line with expectations.
At 1532 GMT, the rand traded at 18.0625 against the dollar, 0.82% weaker than its previous close.
The dollar was up about 0.7% against a basket of global currencies.
The country’s headline consumer inflation slowed to 6.9% year-on-year in January from 7.2% in December, in line with analysts’ forecasts, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.
However, core inflation, which excludes prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, fuel and energy, stayed at 4.9% year-on-year last month, statistics agency data showed.
A sharp petrol price cut drove the negative move in the consumer price index, which was substantial enough to overcome the hefty rise in food prices at the start of the year, Investec analyst Annabel Bishop said in a note.
Meanwhile, data from Statistics South Africa showed retail sales fell 0.6% year-on-year in December after rising by a revised 0.8% in November.
Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.1% year-on-year drop in December.
“December is a seasonally significant month for the retail sector; however, consumers remain constrained and continue to grapple with heightened living costs, with many holding back on discretionary purchases,” Investec analyst Lara Hodes said in a note.
Business confidence fell in January, with crippling power cuts by state utility Eskom weighing significantly on sentiment, a survey by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) showed.
On the stock market, the Top-40 and the broader all-share indexes lost around 0.5% in afternoon trade.
Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats) shares fell to the bottom of the all-share index after the South African miner announced that Chief Executive Natascha Viljoen will step down next year to become operations chief at U.S.-based Newmont Corporation.
The South African government’s benchmark 2030 bond was weaker in afternoon deals, with the yield up 14 basis points at 9.980%.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
