JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand traded softer against the dollar early on Thursday, with scope to extend losses should domestic mining and factory output data come out weaker than expected.
At 0647 GMT, the local unit was trading down 0.35 percent at 12.3400 per greenback, compared with Wednesday's New York close at 12.3115.
Government bonds were mostly flat, with the benchmark 2026 paper yielding half a basis point higher at 8.38 percent.
Traders and analysts said mining production numbers at 0930 GMT and manufacturing data at 1100 GMT would be the latest key clue on the state of Africa's most advanced economy, currently beset by its worst electricity crisis in seven years.
"The domestic output data and US retails sales could cause rand short covering to abate," Barclays Africa said in a note.
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