South African inflation data for February and a leading business cycle indicator for January were released on Wednesday, both showing the impact of nationwide rolling power cuts that have crippled businesses across sectors.
Consumer inflation rose slightly
more than expected
to 7.0% year-on-year in February from 6.9% in January.
Power cuts are likely fuelling price pressures, analysts said.
A South African composite leading business cycle indicator fell 0.1% month on month in January,
central bank data showed. "January's reading was impacted, among other factors, by lower volumes of orders and average hours worked per factory worker in the manufacturing sector, with loadshedding still a key constraint," Investec analyst Annabel Bishop said in a research note.
However, stocks were up in South Africa and globally, as
investors held out hope that the banking crisis might be
receding.
On the JSE, the blue-chip Top 40 closed 1.4% higher while the broader all-share index ended up 1.3%.
The government's benchmark 2030 bond was slightly
weaker, with the yield up 2 basis points to 9.995%.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Nellie Peyton; Editing by
Sherry Jacob-Phillips and James Macharia Chege)
