JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand steadied against the dollar on Tuesday, trading cautiously ahead of key local data released the day ahead of a constitutional court ruling in Germany on whether Berlin can take part in a permanent euro zone bailout fund.
The rand traded at 8.1755 at 0602 GMT against the dollar, little changed from Monday's New York close of 8.19 after hitting a one-month high against the dollar in the previous session.
"The rand at the moment is moving in relation to the bigger strength of euro/dollar," said Garth Klintworth, head of fixed income commodities and currencies at Absa Capital.
The rand often follows the single currency, the unit of its main trading partner. The euro hovered just below a nearly four-month peak against the dollar as traders grew wary after the currency's sharp gains late last week.
South Africa's Reserve Bank is due to release its quarterly bulletin, including current account data, for the second quarter at 0800 GMT, followed by a Statistics South Africa data release of manufacturing production output for July at 1100 GMT.
Economists surveyed by Reuters showed the current account deficit is moderating slightly to 4.7 percent of GDP in the second quarter of this year from a deficit 4.9 percent in the first quarter due to robust portfolio inflows into assets.
Manufacturing is likely to have jumped 6.0 percent in year-on-year in volume terms in July from 0.8 percent in June.
Factory output was slow in the previous months due to the contagion effect in Europe.
Bond yields are expected to rally should the number disappoint as fixed income players price in the possibility of further interest rate cuts.
The Reserve Bank cut the repo rate to its 40-year low in an effort to stimulate growth in Africa's biggest economy.
Government bond yields were flat, with the three-year yield at 5.35 percent and that on the longer dated 14-year paper at 7.27 percent.
South Africa will sell a total of 2.1 billion rand in 2023 , 2041 and 2048 government bonds in an auction on Tuesday that is expected to be well received.
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