The rand slipped on Wednesday morning as the dollar rebounded from its steepest falls in weeks after US president-elect Donald Trump talked down the greenback. But Rand Merchant Bank currency strategist John Cairns said in a note that the ability of the president to affect the value of the dollar was limited and "in our view, the risk is still biased for a stronger rather than weaker dollar". "Nevertheless, the rand takes what it can get and overnight dollar weakness has helped USD/ZAR to move lower [stronger]." The local currency rallied up to R13.4138 to the dollar before pulling back to R13.51. The stronger rand helps to rein in inflation, which is expected to have moderated to 6.5% in December on an annualised basis, from 6.6% in November. Statistics SA will release the updated figures later in the morning. The US will also release its own inflation data in the afternoon. US inflation is expected to have accelerated to an annual 2.1% in December from 1.7% in November. "The expec...
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