{"id":46232,"date":"2026-09-23T10:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=46232"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:39:24","slug":"46232","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/46232\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand muted ahead of inflation data, expected rate hike"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
The South African (SA) Rand was muted in early trade on Wednesday as investors awaited inflation data and \u200ba monetary policy decision later in the day, \u200cwith the Central bank widely expected to raise interest rates.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
The Rand traded at 16.2125 against the Dollar, down about 0.2% \u200bfrom its previous close.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Statistics SA is due \u200bto publish August inflation data. Analysts \u2060polled by\u00a0Reuters<\/i>\u00a0expect annual inflation to accelerate to \u200b4.5%, from 4.3% in July.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
However, Nedbank economists forecast headline consumer \u200binflation would remain unchanged at 4.3%, citing lower transport costs due to a decline in fuel prices.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As a net fuel importer, SA \u200bis heavily exposed to swings in global energy prices.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Later in \u200bthe day, the SA (SARB) Reserve Bank will announce its policy decision, \u200cwith \u2060the central bank widely expected to deliver a 25 basis point rate hike after leaving rates unchanged at its previous meeting.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Inflation looks set to remain above the target for some time, \u200bour forecast suggests \u200banother 10 \u2060months. This is long enough to undermine policy credibility and unsettle inflation expectations,” Nedbank economists \u200bsaid in a note.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“The Rand’s impressive resilience will \u200bdepend \u2060on the SARB hiking, or it will reverse,” ETM Analytics said in a note, adding there was plenty of room for \u2060disappointment \u200bshould the central bank not raise \u200brates.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
SA’s benchmark 2035 government bond was steady in early deals, with the \u200byield at 8.585%.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
–Reuters–<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78],"class_list":["post-46232","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Rand was muted in early trade on Wednesday ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46232","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":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46235,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46232\/revisions\/46235"}],"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=46232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=46232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}