UPDATE 1-South African rand firms against dollar after unemployment data

(Updates prices to reflect afternoon trade) JOHANNESBURG, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The South African rand strengthened on Tuesday after data showed that the country's unemployment rate declined for the fourth consecutive quarter in October-to-December last year. At 1601 GMT, the rand traded at 18.3500 against the U.S. dollar, 0.39% stronger than its closing level on Monday. Unemployment fell to 32.7% in the final three months of 2022 from 32.9% in the preceding quarter, Statistics South Africa said. Other data showed that South Africa recorded a trade deficit of 23.05 billion rand ($1.25 billion) in January, down from a revised surplus of 4.99 billion rand in December.

The country recorded a budget deficit of 88.80 billion rand ($4.82 billion) in January, compared to a deficit of 65.93 billion rand in the same month a year earlier, National Treasury data

showed on Tuesday.

Its private sector credit expanded 8.42% year-on-year in January after rising 7.73% in December, central bank data

showed .

On the stock market, the Top-40 and the broader all-share indexes rose around 0.25%.

However, Sibanye Stillwater shares fell around 3%, after the company

said its full-year profit almost halved due to a lengthy strike at its South African gold mines and flooding at its U.S platinum operations that hit production.

The government's benchmark 2030 bond was weaker in afternoon deals, with the yield up 4.5 basis points to 10.110%.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Toby Chopra)