South African rand firms against dollar after unemployment data

(Reuters) -South Africa's rand firmed on Tuesday after data showed that the country's unemployment rate slightly improved in the second quarter.

At 1643 GMT, the rand traded at 16.9700 against the dollar, 0.15% stronger than its previous close.

South Africa's official unemployment rate edged lower to 33.9% in the second quarter of 2022 from 34.5% in the first quarter, the statistics agency said on Tuesday.

Economists at Nedbank said in a note that employment picked up as the end of lockdown restrictions encouraged workers to return to the market and economic activity normalised.

Data also showed on Tuesday that a composite leading business cycle indicator increased 0.4% month-on-month in June.

On the stock market, the Top-40 and the broader all-share indexes rose more than 0.8%, driven mostly by mining sector shares.

The South African government's benchmark 2030 bond fell, with the yield up 2.5 basis points to 10.340%.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Anait Miridzhanian in GdanskEditing by Jamie Freed and Matthew Lewis)