JOHANNESBURG: The South African rand weakened around 1% against a stronger dollar on Thursday after the release of the central bank's quarterly bulletin and producer price index data.

At 1447 GMT, the rand traded at 18.8350 against the dollar, 0.92% weaker than its previous close.

The dollar last traded at 103.17, more than 0.2% stronger, against a basket of global currencies.

The U.S. currency has been supported since Wednesday when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell did not rule out more rate hikes.

South African rand recovers further on bets for Fed rate pause

South Africa's producer inflation slowed to 7.3% year on year in May from 8.6% in April, data showed on Thursday.

"Both final and intermediate producer price inflation has cooled off rapidly in recent months, and the trend is set to continue," said ETM Analytics in a research note.

Other data showed South Africa recorded a small foreign direct investment inflow of 0.5 billion rand ($26.52 million) in the first quarter of 2023, down from a revised inflow of 64.0 billion rand in the previous quarter.

South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 4 basis points at 10.520%.