South African rand slips, focus on president's cabinet picks

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa's rand slipped on Thursday, as investors turned cautious ahead of newly re-elected President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet appointments under a unity government.

At 1521 GMT, the rand traded at 18.0625 against the dollar, about 0.6% weaker than its previous close. The rand had weakened more than 1% against the dollar earlier in the day.

"Today's depreciation might suggest some profit taking in the rand on markets caution ahead of newly re-elected President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet appointments," Shaun Murison, senior market analyst at IG, told Reuters.

The longer-term momentum of the rand appeared to be that of further gains, he added.

The local currency had strengthened to a near 11-month high of 17.9200 on Wednesday after five political parties joined the African National Congress last week in forming a government of national unity, after it lost its absolute majority in a general election.

The dollar also gained on Thursday against a basket of currencies, "so the rand weakening is in part attributable to macro factors rather than purely those which are local," Murison said.

On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed 0.72% lower.

South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 4 basis points at 9.785%.

(Reporting by Tannur Anders and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Shailesh Kuber)