South Africa's rand at 5-week low, tracks EM peers

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand fell to a five-week low against the dollar on Thursday, tracking emerging market peers after an influential report said capital flows were projected to fall, partly due to a potential U.S. interest rate hike. The rand was also weighed down by a dollar rally after a stronger-than-expected rise in U.S. pending homes sales buoyed the outlook for the housing market. At 1455 GMT the rand was trading 1.36 percent weaker at 12.1860 to the dollar, its weakest since April 24. The Institute of International Finance said capital flows to emerging economies would fall to $981 billion this year, their lowest since 2009, due to disappointing economic growth, a potential U.S. interest rate rise and a drop in investment in Russia. "This basically triggered broad losses among emerging market currencies," said Bart Stemmet of NKC African Economics. Traders also await South Africa money supply and trade data due to be released on Friday. Government bonds weakened with the currency, pushing the yield for the 2026 benchmark up 3.5 basis points to 8.175 percent.