JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand firmed against a weaker dollar on Monday, after the release of mixed local data.
At 1251 GMT the rand traded at 17.59 against the dollar, about 0.3% up from Friday’s close.
South African manufacturing sentiment deteriorated in August after a short-lived improvement in July, as activity remained subdued and both domestic and export demand were sluggish, a Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) survey showed on Monday.
Separately, data from the national auto association NAAMSA showed a 18.7% year-on-year increase in new vehicles sold domestically in August.
Nedbank economists in a research note said that they had expected annual growth in new vehicle sales to slow to 13.9% in August from 15.6% in July.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index last traded up 0.5%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was stronger, with the yield down one basis point at 9.595%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Anathi Madubela;Editing by Kim Coghill)
