JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand inched weaker early on Wednesday in subdued trading as investors looked to limit big bets ahead of a speech by the head of the United States central bank.
At 0650 GMT the rand was 0.08% weaker at 14.2075 per dollar, barely moved from a close of 14.1875 overnight as investors waited for congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for clues on the odds of a near-term easing of U.S. monetary policy.
Strong U.S. jobs data last week cooled market hopes for a large rate cut at the July 30-31 Fed meeting, but a small cut is still widely expected.
With no major data due locally the rand is set to remain in a tight range for most of the session, traders said.
Bonds were slightly weaker, with yield on the benchmark 2026 government issue up 2 basis points to 8.125%.
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