{"id":41402,"date":"2026-08-03T11:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=41402"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:46:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:46:54","slug":"rand-firms-ahead-of-factory-activity-vehicle-sales-figures","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-firms-ahead-of-factory-activity-vehicle-sales-figures\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand firms ahead of factory activity, vehicle sales figures"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The South African (SA) Rand strengthened in early trade on Monday ahead of the release \u200bof local manufacturing Purchasing Managers&#8217; Index (PMI) and \u200cvehicle sales data for July.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Rand traded at 16.4650 against the Dollar, up 0.6% from its previous close.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Absa PMI survey is expected to provide \u2060fresh insight into manufacturing conditions in Africa&#8217;s \u200bmost industrialised economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">SA manufacturing sentiment deteriorated in June \u200bas weaker demand weighed on new orders, although lower oil prices boosted confidence about future business conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Investors will also focus \u200bon vehicle sales, which will offer a snapshot of consumer demand \u200cfor \u2060big-ticket items after sales rose 15.3% in June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Nedbank economists forecast vehicle sales growth to moderate to 9.2% in July, primarily due to the high base \u200breached last \u200byear and \u2060a less supportive economic backdrop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;Even so, sales are expected to remain robust \u200bat 56.247 units, underpinned by the lagged \u200beffects \u2060of interest rate cuts and the availability of affordable imported models,&#8221; they said in a note.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">SA&#8217;s \u2060benchmark \u200b2035 government bond was weaker \u200bin early deals, as the yield rose 2.5 basis points \u200bto 8.605%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13933,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-41402","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand strengthened in early trade on Monday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41402","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":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41404,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41402\/revisions\/41404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}