The rand perked up on Wednesday morning after consumer inflation that moderated more than expected. Inflation decelerated to an annual rate of 4.6% in November, from 4.8% in October, Statistics SA data showed. Lower inflation bodes well for local bonds, which generally track the rand. The focus will now turn to the US Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to raise interest rates by at least 25 basis points later in the day. But markets are likely to be pay more attention to the Fed’s future policy moves than the actual decision on rates, which has largely been discounted. The yield on the benchmark US 10-year note has been trading sideways for some weeks amid the uncertainty on how the Fed will approach its policy in 2018. At 10.3am, the rand was at R13.6383 to the dollar from R13.6750‚ at R16.0115 to the euro from R16.0575, and at R18.1735 to the pound from R18.2114 The euro was at $1.1739 from $1.1742
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