{"id":33634,"date":"2026-05-04T10:55:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=33634"},"modified":"2026-05-04T10:55:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:55:26","slug":"sa-rand-flat-ahead-of-manufacturing-data-car-sales-data","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-rand-flat-ahead-of-manufacturing-data-car-sales-data\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Rand flat ahead of manufacturing data, car sales data"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The South African (SA) Rand was flat in early trade on Monday ahead of the release \u200bof a local manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) \u200cand vehicle sales data for April.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Rand traded at 16.6075 against the Dollar, broadly unchanged from \u200bits previous close.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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An Absa PMI survey is set \u200bto be released and will \u2060shed light on manufacturing conditions in Africa’s most \u200bindustrialised economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SA manufacturing sentiment remained weak in March, \u200bwith respondents expressing concern about the impact of the Iran war although business activity is yet to take a serious knock.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Investors \u200bwill then turn their focus to vehicle sales, which will give a snapshot \u200cof \u2060consumer demand for big-ticket items.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nedbank economists, in a research note, said they expect car sales to contract by 16% in April, largely reflecting more public holidays \u200bthan in March \u200band softer \u2060demand amid uncertainty over the war in Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Higher fuel prices and a shifting \u200binterest rate outlook are likely to \u200bweigh on \u2060consumer confidence and, in turn, vehicle demand. Even so, the decline comes off a high base,” said \u2060the \u200bnote.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SA’s benchmark 2035 government bond \u200bwas stronger in early deals, as the yield fell 3.5 basis \u200bpoints to 8.76%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-33634","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand was flat in early trade on Monday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33634","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\/33634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33635,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33634\/revisions\/33635"}],"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=33634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}