JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The South African rand was marginally firmer but remained range bound in late trade on Wednesday with the dollar under some pressure from its peers amid a rise in oil prices.
The currency shrugged off consumer inflation data for July that came in broadly in line with expectations, indicating that a peak might have been reached and that further interest rate hikes this year are unlikely.
By 3:45 p.m. the rand was bid at 7.7641 to the dollar from a previous close of 7.8025.
It was bid at 11.4429 to the euro from a previous 11.4229 and at 14.3165 against sterling from 14.3391 before.
A local currency trader said the rand was unmoved by the inflation data, which came in more or less as expected.
The increase in South Africa's consumer price index excluding mortgage rate changes (CPIX) for metro and other areas, which is used by the central bank for its inflation target, was up 13.0 percent year-on-year (y/y) in July from 11.6 percent y/y in June, Statistics South Africa said.
