South Africa's rand was slightly weaker on Thursday after the central bank left its main interest rate on hold as expected. At 1403 GMT, the rand was 0.2% weaker and trading at 14.7275 per US dollar, slipping back from gains made in earlier trading. Stocks traded weaker, with the broader All-share index down 0.17% to 56,124 points while the benchmark Top-40 index fell 0.11% to 50,078 points.
Retailers fell, with Woolworths down 2.31% to 57.48 rand, the Foschini Group slipping 1.96% to 162.50, and Clicks declining 1.78% to 215.86 rand. Shoprite also fell 0.61% to 127.70 rand. Mr Price, however, gained 0.79% to 159.05 rand despite announcing it faces a potential loss of up to 20 million rand ($1.36 million) following an internal investigation into allegations of non-compliance.
Government bonds remained unchanged, with the yield on the 2026 bond at 8.21%. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) kept the repo rate at 6.5% in a unanimous decision on Thursday, in line with market expectations. South Africa's inflation outlook has been relatively benign, with price rises well within the SARB's 3%-6% target range. But economic growth this year has been sluggish. "We now think that South African interest rates will remain unchanged over the coming quarters," said John Ashbourne, Senior Emerging Markets Economist at Capital Economics, in a note.