JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand was little changed on Tuesday, after the release of unemployment and manufacturing data, with traders’ attention mainly on a national budget review on Wednesday.
At 1216 GMT, the rand traded at 17.1450 against the dollar, near its previous closing level.
The local currency staged a recovery on Monday, gaining about 1% after news that the U.S. Senate had passed a deal that would restore federal funding and end the longest shutdown.
Statistics South Africa data earlier showed the official unemployment rate fell slightly in the third quarter of this year, to 31.9% from 33.2% in the second quarter.
The statistics agency also published manufacturing output for September which pointed to a 0.3% year-on-year increase, better than the 0.3% decline expected by Reuters analysts, but softer than Nedbank’s forecast of a 0.7% rise.
“While the sector continues to face structural and cost pressures, output is expected to receive some support from consumer-oriented manufacturing sectors, which are benefiting from firmer domestic demand and improved electricity supply and logistics performance,” Nedbank economists said in a research note.
Investor attention pivoted to the national budget presentation by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday, which is expected to reflect a slightly better fiscal outlook, though the government’s economic growth projections could be revised down.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index was last up 0.8%, lifted mostly by shares in Gold Fields , Harmony Gold and Vodacom .
The benchmark 2035 government bond weakened as the yield rose 3.5 basis points to 8.785%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Andrew Heavens)
