Rand steadies before trade data

South Africa’s rand steadied against the U.S. dollar early on Wednesday but traders were expected to remain cautious ahead of a slew of economic data.

At 0642 GMT, the rand traded at 13.1200 per dollar, not far off its overnight close of 13.1350.

Locally, the market focus is on trade data due at 1200 GMT, as well as eurozone inflation and unemployment data.

Stocks were set to open lower at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index down 0.39 percent.

In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was down 1.5 basis points to 8.605 percent.