JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s rand edged higher early on Thursday, ahead of the release of a quarterly bulletin by the central bank and monthly producer inflation figures.

At 0653 GMT, the rand traded at 17.1975 against the dollar, about 0.5% stronger than its previous close.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will release its September Quarterly Bulletin at 0800 GMT, which will shed light on foreign direct investment flows in the second quarter.

Domestic investor focus will then shift towards August producer inflation data to be announced by Statistics South Africa at 0930 GMT.

South African rand softens against the dollar

The rand has hit repeated 20-month highs this week, with its current rally partly attributed to positive sentiment in the wake of interest rate cuts by the SARB and US Federal Reserve last week.

Markets have also remained upbeat about the future prospects of the coalition government formed following an election in May, which has crossed 100 days in power. South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was flat in early deals, with the yield at 8.845%.