Rand races to firmest in a month vs dollar

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's rand clawed to its firmest level in 25 days against the dollar on Tuesday as investors took some comfort from China's GDP data, focusing on growth being slightly stronger than forecast.

China's economy grew at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis in the September quarter and risks missing its official target for the first time in 15 years, adding to concerns about the major commodity consumer.

But the rand strengthened for a third straight day to its firmest level since mid-September, 0.45 percent firmer on the day to 10.9725 per dollar at 1500 GMT, after weakening as far as 11.1995 in the previous week.

"Some of the rand's commodity peers were generally stronger today, riding on the Chinese GDP data. The rand was an out-performer," saidSean Mcalgan, an analyst at ETM Analytics.

The rand, heading into a week when local data releases are likely to reveal an ailing economy, was aided by a dollar index that slid against a basket of major currencies, as investors held off until the Wednesday release of U.S. inflation data.

Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene delivers his first budget speech on Wednesday, with market-watchers expecting him to reveal a wider budget deficit and lower gross domestic product growth forecasts than expected in February.

"There is always potential in these budget reviews for the short-term market impact to be suppressed by promises that are quite optimistic. The market, however, has become less lenient on that sort of trend," Mcalgan said.

South Africa also releases September consumer inflation figures on Wednesday, at 0800 GMT. A Reuters poll predicts consumer price growth will slow to 6.1 percent year-on-year from 6.4 percent in the previous month.

Government bonds were firmer, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 shedding 6.5 basis points to 8.01 percent.