South Africa's rand weakened in late trade on Tuesday in a subdued session as investors avoided big bets ahead of local retail and mining data later in the week, and a definitive sign from the trade talks between China and the United States.

At 1530 GMT the rand was 0.22% weaker at 14.9250 per dollar, having closed at 14.8850 overnight and kicking off the session on the front foot before fading fast.

The currency's late-session dip, driven mostly by a rebounding greenback, left the local unit closer to the 15.00/$ psychological mark which has recently opened the door to bigger losses.

The benchmark JSE Top-40 Index was up 0.57% to 50,261.69 points while the broader All-Share Index inched 0.49% to 56,450.75 points.

Government bonds were weaker, with the yield on the 2026 bond up 1.5 basis points at 8.485%.

Platinum miners were the day's biggest winners on the blue-chip index after South Africa's biggest mining union sealed wage agreements, concluding negotiations that have been ongoing since June. Anglo American Platinum was up 4.71% while Impala Platinum rose 4.52%%.

Telecommunications company Telkom also rose 6.68% to 65.94 rand after announcing on Tuesday that it was in discussions over a potential acquisition even as a spike in debt costs pushed half-year profits down more than a third.

US President Donald Trump was due to give a speech in New York where he may delay a tariff decision on European automakers by six months, according to European Union officials, lifting the dollar on trader optimism.