JOHANNESBURG, March 20 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand rose against the dollar on Wednesday ahead of an interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve.
At 1540 GMT, the rand traded at 18.8050 against the dollar , about 0.6% stronger than its previous close.
Investors will be looking at the outcome of the Fed's latest policy meeting, while focus will also be on Chair Jerome Powell's press statement after the meeting for clues as to when the central bank will start cutting rates.
Locally, data earlier showed South Africa's consumer inflation ticked up for the second month in a row in February to 5.6%, moving closer to the central bank's upper target of 6%, which economists say could mean a longer wait for rate cuts this year.
Economists polled by Reuters had predicted annual inflation at 5.5% from 5.3% in January.
Separately, Statistics South Africa said the country's retail sales fell 2.1% year-on-year in January after increasing by a revised 3.2% in December.
On the stock market, the Top-40 (.JTOPI), opens new tab index closed 0.8% higher.
South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was stronger, with the yield down 5.5 basis points at 10.425%.
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Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Jamie Freed, William Maclean
