The rand was little changed on Monday morning as investors await key market-moving events in the week ahead. Locally, manufacturing production for October is expected to be released on Tuesday, and the median forecast is for manufacturing to have contracted for the fifth consecutive month, according to a Bloomberg poll.
However, The FXTM senior research analyst Lukman Otungan, has said the rand, which has been shaky against the dollar since the start of December, could depreciate if manufacturing production declines further.
He further explained that Consumer inflation for November is also due this week, with expectations that the headline figure will remain at October's 3.7%. On the global front, analysts say the looming December 15 tariff hike on $156bn worth of Chinese imports may weigh on global market sentiment in the week.