{"id":15620,"date":"2025-11-19T08:52:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T06:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-edges-higher-ahead-of-inflation-data\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:27:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:27:47","slug":"rand-edges-higher-ahead-of-inflation-data","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-edges-higher-ahead-of-inflation-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand edges higher ahead of inflation data"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The South African (SA) Rand edged up in early trade on Wednesday, as traders turned their attention to inflation data for clues on the country&#8217;s economy ahead of an interest rate decision on Thursday, the last one for the year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The Rand traded at 17.1550 against the Dollar , about 0.2% firmer than its previous close.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Domestically focused traders are waiting for October consumer inflation and September retail sales.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Economists polled by\u00a0<i>Reuters\u00a0<\/i>expect annual inflation will come in at 3.7% for October, up from 3.4%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Nedbank economists anticipate a marked acceleration to 3.8%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8220;Food prices are at peak levels, with the upside driven mainly by meat prices reflecting the ongoing challenges relating to foot and mouth vaccinations, while all other categories are showing signs of moderation,&#8221; the bank&#8217;s economists said in a note.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Retail sales are forecast to rise from 2.3% in August to 3% in September, based on Nedbank&#8217;s forecasts.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8220;The positive momentum in sales is being supported by a low base, more subdued inflationary environment, lower interest rates, and easing debt service costs, all of which have lifted real wages and boosted discretionary spending,&#8221; Nedbank said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last up 0.4%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond was firmer in early deals, as the yield fell 1.5 basis points to 8.66%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-15620","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":null,"news_description":"Rand edged up in early trade on Wednesday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19780,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15620\/revisions\/19780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}