The South African rand slipped on Wednesday after September headline inflation ticked up, but the increase was smaller than expected, bolstering the case for the central bank to resume rate cuts.
At 1255 GMT the rand traded at 17.46 against the dollar, about 0.5 down from its Tuesday close.
Headline consumer inflation quickened to 3.4 in annual terms from 3.3 in August, below the median forecast of 3.5 in a Reuters poll.