JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand was on the backfoot on Monday as investors booked profits after a rally that took the currency to a nine-month peak.
At 1522 GMT the rand traded at 17.5775 against the dollar, almost 1% weaker than Friday’s close.
The risk-sensitive currency rallied on Friday, boosted by a weaker dollar and a rebound in gold prices, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pointed to a possible rate cut at the central bank’s September meeting.
Now investors are awaiting domestic releases to gauge the health of Africa’s most industrialised economy.
On the economic calendar this week will be South Africa’s business cycle leading indicator, producer inflation numbers, money supply and private sector credit data, and trade balance and budget balance figures.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index was last up about 0.3%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond also firmed as the yield fell 6.5 basis points to 9.575%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Anathi Madubela; Editing by Toby Chopra, Alex Richardson and Alison Williams)
