JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand weakened more than one percent on Wednesday after reports that a large debt manager was halting loans to state-owned firms raised investor concerns over the management of the economy.
The rand rand slipped 1.1 percent to 14.6675 at 1350 GMT against dollar, which was at one-month highs after positive employment figures raised bets of a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
"There's uncertainty among investors and concerns generally about how state companies are spending their money. But in the bigger scheme of things it's not a huge amount," said chief trader at Bidvest Bank Ion de Vleeschauwer.
South African fixed-income asset manager Futuregrowth has stopped lending to some state-owned local companies, its chief investment officer Andrew Canter said on Wednesday.
A narrower trade surplus in July also added pressure on local markets which have been on the ropes amid the possibility that police could charge Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for his role in a spy unit in the revenue service.
Government bonds were also weaker, with the yield on the benchmark 2026 paper adding 5 basis points to 9.03 percent.
On the bourse, stocks were down, led by retailer Mr Price whose shares slid over 18 percent after the company said it expected its interim earnings not to match last year's after its worst winter season in over a decade.
The benchmark Top-40 index was down 1.09 percent to 46,307 points while the broader All Share index was 1.29 percent down at 52,760 points.
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