JOHANNESBURG, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The South African rand
fell back in early trade on Thursday, after surging a day
earlier when the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled it had turned a
corner in the fight against inflation.
Investors took a dovish cue from Fed Chair Jerome Powell's
remarks on Wednesday that "the disinflationary process has
started" in the world's largest economy, prompting the dollar to
tumble and boosting emerging market currencies worldwide.
The rand gained more than 2% against the dollar on
Wednesday. But by 0640 GMT on Thursday it was down about 0.2% on
its previous close at 17.0700 per dollar.
ETM Analytics said in a research note that for now South
African news was a distraction given the large sell-off in the
dollar.
No major domestic data releases are due on Thursday, so the
rand is likely to continue to take its cue from global drivers.
The rand is among the worst-performing emerging market
currencies this year, weighed down by a power crisis that has
seen outages on every day in 2023.
The government's benchmark 2030 bond was firmer
in early deals on Thursday, the yield down 7.5 basis points to
9.53%.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; editing by Uttaresh.V)
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