Stocks rose too. The South African rand firmed in afternoon trade on Tuesday as power utility Eskom suspended its latest power cuts, with market focus also fixed on U.S. inflation data due later in the week that could unleash bets on faster interest rate hikes there. At
Consumer prices rose 5.9% in December, taking the average inflation rate for 2021 to 4.5%, according to the statistics office. South African consumers are in for another difficult year, with energy and fuel prices likely to surge and the central bank and government set to remove
Which boosted optimism about the global economic recovery. The South African rand firmed on Friday along with other emerging market currencies after a volatile week with price swings driven by domestic politics and US monetary policy. At 1513 GMT, the rand traded at 15.13 against the US