JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand steadied against the dollar in early trade on Wednesday, with investors focusing on the Sino-U.S. trade dispute and cues from the U.S. Federal Reserve on the path of future interest rate increases.
* At 0630 GMT, the rand traded at 13.8900 per dollar, not far off its New York close of 13.9125 on Tuesday.
* The currency opened flat at 13.9125.
* "The local unit is slowly creeping above R13.90/$ as the market's focus on the US-China trade war intensifies," Bianca Botes, treasury manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions, said in a note.
* "While the rand has not been extremely volatile over the past few days, the risk-off environment is slowly nudging the rand to weaker levels," said Botes.
* U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to discuss contentious trade matters at the upcoming G20 summit in Buenos Aires between Nov. 30-Dec. 1 .
* Market attention is also on a speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell later on Wednesday and the minutes from the Fed's Nov. 7-8 meeting due on Thursday. Markets hope to gain fresh insights into the Fed's thinking on the speed and number of rate hikes in the current cycle.
* In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was up 3.5 basis points to 9.025 percent.
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