JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand was steady for most of Wednesday’s trading session, even after retail sales data that came in weaker than expected by economists polled by Reuters.
At 1505 GMT, the rand traded at 17.8650 against the dollar, about 0.3% stronger than Wednesday’s close.
South African retail sales rose 4.2% year-on-year in May after rising by a revised 5.2% in April, Statistics South Africa figures showed on Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected May retail sales to rise 4.4%.
Nedbank economists said in a research note that the positive figures were the result of a more subdued inflationary environment, lower interest rates, and easing debt servicing costs, which have lifted real wages and discretionary spending.
Elna Moolman at Standard Bank said that consumer expenditure was further boosted by withdrawals from the “two-pot” pension reform.
The reform implemented last year allowed fund members to make partial withdrawals from their pension funds before retirement to help those members in financial distress.
“Our data suggests that there was a renewed increase in two-pot retirement withdrawals in the first part of the new fiscal year,” said Moolman.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index was last down 0.1%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond weakened, with the yield rising 3.5 basis points to 9.895%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov. Additional reporting by Kopano Gumbi.Editing by Bernadette Baum and Mark Potter)
