{"id":20808,"date":"2025-12-10T10:01:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T08:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-inches-up-before-local-retail-sales-data-us-rate-decision\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:32:03","slug":"rand-inches-up-before-local-retail-sales-data-us-rate-decision","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-inches-up-before-local-retail-sales-data-us-rate-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand inches up before local retail sales data, US rate decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The South African (SA) Rand edged up in early trade on Wednesday, ahead of the release of domestic retail sales data and a United States (US) Federal Reserve (Fed) policy meeting later in the day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Rand traded at 17.0225 against the Dollar , up roughly 0.2% on Tuesday&#8217;s close.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Statistics SA will publish October retail sales data, shedding light on consumer spending patterns in Africa&#8217;s biggest economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Economists polled by Reuters predicted retail sales would rise 2.3% year-on-year in October, after a 3.1% increase in September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;The slowdown likely reflects consumers delaying discretionary purchases in anticipation of Black Friday promotions,&#8221; said Nedbank Economists, who expect sales to rise 2.5%, in a research note.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">An index sponsored by First National Bank showed on Tuesday that SA&#8217;s consumer confidence improved in the fourth quarter to hit its highest reading for 2025, helped by consumers&#8217; appetite to spend into the holiday season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Global investor attention will later be pinned on an expected 25 basis point interest rate cut by the Fed, possibly accompanied by hawkish guidance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">ETM Analytics said while a cut would already be priced in, guidance offered by Fed Chairperson Powell would likely spark market movement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Like other risk-sensitive currencies, the rand often takes cues from global drivers such as US policy and economic data in addition to domestic releases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;For now, the ultimate assessment is that the ZAR will retain some resilience. It has many fundamentals that are working in its favour,&#8221; said ETM Analytics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was flat in early trade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond firmed, as the yield fell 5.5 basis points to 8.43%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12528,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-20808","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\/20808","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\/20808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24714,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/20808\/revisions\/24714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=20808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}