JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand slipped on Wednesday following mixed local economic data and as the dollar gained after data showed the U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter.
At 1329 GMT, the rand traded at 18.62 against the dollar, roughly 0.4% weaker than Tuesday’s closing level.
Domestic data showed South Africa recorded a trade surplus of 24.77 billion rand ($1.33 billion) in March, while the budget deficit stood at 13.11 billion rand in the same month.
The dollar was last trading up about 0.25% against a basket of currencies, after a Commerce Department report showed U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3% in the first quarter.
The data was worse than market expectations, but better than the dire predictions touted by some of the biggest U.S. banks.
Earlier on Wednesday, South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana briefed reporters on the next steps for the local budget after he scrapped a fiercely-opposed increase in value-added tax and a court set aside parliament’s adoption of the fiscal framework.
He said a new budget would be presented on May 21, which would maintain a government focus on stabilising public debt.
Separately, central bank data showed private sector credit extension slowed slightly in March to 3.45% year-on-year from 3.68% in February.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index was last trading about 0.3% higher.
The benchmark 2030 government bond was little changed, with the yield up 0.5 basis point at 8.815%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Bhargav Acharya; editing by Alexander Winning, Sharon Singleton and Mark Heinrich)
