JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand edged slightly firmer early on Tuesday as domestic fundamentals came into focus with the release of unemployment and manufacturing data set to stoke the currency's recent weakness.
At 0615 the rand was 0.09 firmer at 11.5800 per dollar , hovering near a four-day high above 11.6000 as local and off-shore uncertainty swirled ahead of the jobs and production numbers, both expected to show economic growth continues to stutter.
A Reuters poll of economists predicts the rate of unemployment will tick-up to 25.5 percent of the population while year-on-year manufacturing production in December is seen contracting by 1 percent.
Data from China revealing imports there had slumped 19.9 percent coupled with a six-year low inflation print by the world's second largest economy pushed the local unit lower in the previous session.
The on-going debt deadlock between Greece and the European Central Bank has also soured investors appetite for riskier assets.
Local bonds were flat in early trade with the government issue due in 2026 unmoved at 7.48 percent, although yields are expected to tick-up with investors chasing safer bets overseas.
Data from the Johannesburg securities exchange on Monday showed that investors sold over 3.1 billion rand in local bonds in the previous week.
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