The South African rand was little changed early on Tuesday, a day after staging a mini-recovery on relief the country's credit rating was not downgraded and bets on a large interest rate hike from the central bank this week.
At 08h30 am SAST, the rand traded at 19.2425 against the dollar, not far from its previous close of 19.2350. Analysts polled by Reuters predict the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will deliver a 25-basis-point (bp) rate hike on Thursday, but markets are pricing in a bigger increase. Sentiment towards South Africa has been badly affected by the worst rolling blackouts on record, which mean businesses and households are in the dark for up to 10 hours daily.
Investors will assess the success of the SARB's efforts to bring inflation under control when April consumer inflation figures (ZACPIY=ECI) are released on Wednesday. South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was broadly flat in early deals, with the yield down 1 basis point at 11.240%.
