JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand is likely to stay under pressure this week if current account data released on Tuesday proves worse than expected.
The rand was at 9.1075 to the dollar at 0627 GMT, barely changed from its close in New York on Friday.
It breached the psychologically key 9.0 to the dollar barrier at the end of February after figures showed the trade deficit increased to a record 24.53 billion randin January from 2.7 billion rand in December.
Sluggish growth and widening current account and budget deficits have dented investor confidence in Africa's biggest economy.
Central bank governor Gill Marcus told Reuters on Friday that the rand may have weakened too much this year, requiring policymakers to keep a close eye on wages and prices. She added that inflation could briefly breach the 3-6 percent band. .
In addition to current account data, manufacturing production and retail sales figures are also due this week.
"A continuation in the widening of the current account deficit and the ratings agencies may start to become more vocal especially as the country is already on a "negative" watch with all of them," Standard Bank trader Warrick Butler wrote in a note.
"With the level of foreign investment into our bond market, this will not be the kind of noise they will want to hear."
The 2026 and 2015 government bonds were yielding 7.38 percent and 5.355 percent respectively.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africas-rand-rangebound-ahead-current-account-data-064910491--finance.html
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