South Africa's rand firms ahead of inflation data

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand firmed on Thursday, holding on to gains it made in the previous session when the U.S. dollar weakened on data that showed the pace of economic growth in the world's number one economy was slowing. The local unit gained 0.22 percent to 10.9400 per dollar by 0632 GMT, from a close of 10.9645 in New York on Wednesday. Government bonds also firmed with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 falling 1.5 basis points to 7.68 percent, after edging towards a year low in the previous session as lower oil prices pointed to benign inflation. Market watchers expect domestic producer price inflation data due at 0930 GMT to give the rand direction. "The rand continues to feature as one of the best performing EM's month-to-date," said ETM Analytics in a note. "[But] it becomes difficult to read too much into these moves when considering how profit-taking would have featured and liquidity would have lightened up across U.S. markets approaching today’s (Thanksgiving) holiday". South Africa's producer price inflation slowed to 6.9 percent year-on-year in September. A Reuters poll of economists puts the October figure at 6.6 percent.