JOHANNESBURG, March 2 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand
weakened in early trade on Thursday, as the dollar steadied on
higher U.S. yields.
At 0647 GMT, the rand traded at 18.2200 against the
dollar, 0.58% weaker than its previous close.
The dollar was up almost 0.3% against a basket of global
currencies .
"The current debate is whether the inflation readings
warrant interest rates remaining higher for longer or will need
to rise a little further than anticipated," ETM Analytics said
in a note.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari
said on Wednesday he was "open-minded" on either a 25 basis
point or a 50 basis point rate hike at the U.S. central bank's
next meeting.
Stocks were set to open lower at 0700 GMT, with the JSE
securities exchange's Top-40 futures index down around
0.5%.
The government's benchmark 2030 bond was weaker
in early deals, with the yield up 5 basis points to 10.140%.
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Nivedita
Bhattacharjee)
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