The South African rand weakened on Tuesday, pressured by global risk aversion tied to a fragile truce in the , while investors also braced for planned anti-immigration demonstrations in Africa's largest economy.
At 0549 GMT, the rand traded at 16.4550 against the dollar FX_IDC:USDZAR, down 0.3% from its previous close, but broadly in line with its emerging-market peers as geopolitical caution weighed on sentiment.
Domestic investor focus will be on protests in the country, as demonstrators called on undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa by Tuesday.
Thousands of foreign Africans are heading home or huddling together in camps for fear of being attacked, though the group organising the protests, March and March, says it will be peaceful.
Economic releases on Tuesday include South Africa's money supply (ZAM3=ECI), private sector credit (ZACRED=ECI), the central bank's inflation expectations survey, as well as trade balance (ZATBAL=ECI) and budget balance (ZABUD=ECI) data.
Analysts, however, expect the protests to overshadow these economic indicators.