South Africa's rand weakened against the dollar on Wednesday, extending earlier losses after mixed local data and the anti-graft ombudsman's calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to respond to findings from an investigation into a bribe scandal.
At 1523 GMT, the rand was almost 1% weaker at 14.8200 per dollar compared to a close of 14.6750 overnight in New York. The rand struggled while other emerging market currencies including Brazil's real and the Mexican peso were benefiting from hopes the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates after data showed US inflation was barely changed in May. Stocks were also down after the United States took a tough line on trade talks with China, triggering a dip in global equities. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange's benchmark Top-40 Index fell 0.07% to 52,619.43 points while the broader All-Share Index dipped 0.1% to 58,706.35 points.
Although South African retail sales data published on Wednesday showed a pick-up in sales growth in April, retail inflation fell below its March level reflecting a constrained spending environment, also highlighted by the Bureau for Economic Research in its business confidence index for the second quarter, Investec said in a note.