South African rand slips on weak mining and manufacturing data

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand slipped on Thursday, failing to capitalise on a weaker dollar globally as local mining and manufacturing data came in worse than expected.

At 1510 GMT, the rand traded at 16.2400 against the dollar, down around 0.1% on its previous close.

The dollar index was down 0.2%, sliding further after softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data the previous day.

But Statistics South Africa figures showed June mining output fell 8.0% year on year, worse than the 5.0% drop predicted. June manufacturing shrank 3.5% in annual terms versus a forecast 2.9% decline.

The releases add to signs that Africa's most industrialised economy performed poorly in the second quarter of 2022, when damaging floods and power cuts hampered businesses.

Johannesburg-listed shares rose, with the stock exchange's All-share index ending up 2.2% and the Top-40 up 2.3%.

Gains were led by mobile operator MTN Group, whose shares rose 9% after it said its first-half earnings surged 46.5% and that it had received a $35 million binding offer for its Afghanistan business.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Alexander Winning in JohannesburgEditing by Alistair Bell)