South Africa’s rand weaker amid dollar strength

JOHANNESBURG, May 12 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand fell against the dollar in early trade on Thursday as the greenback remained generally strong and investors awaited local mining and manufacturing data.

At 0627 GMT, the rand ZAR=D3 traded at 16.1600 per dollar, 0.2% weaker than its previous close.

Traders said the currency was on the back foot due to the strength of the dollar, which held near a two-decade high on Thursday after U.S. inflation moderated by less than markets had expected, keeping the Federal Reserve on course to tighten monetary policy aggressively.nL3N2X40ID

South African-focused investors will look to March mining and manufacturing data for clues on the first-quarter performance of the economy, which has been facing a power crisis.

Government bonds also weakened, with the yield on the benchmark 2030 maturity ZAR2030= rising 5 basis points to 10.09%.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Bradley Perrett)

((Olivia.Kumwenda@thomsonreuters.com; +27 10 346 1084;))