JOHANNESBURG, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The rand traded flat on Tuesday after South Africa's statistics agency reported softer economic growth in the third quarter compared to the previous.
At 1507 GMT, the rand traded at 17.1125 against the dollar , a whisker away from Monday's close.
Africa's biggest economy grew 0.5% in seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter terms, in line with the median forecast of analysts polled by Reuters but slower than revised second-quarter growth of 0.9%.
The largest positive contributions came from trade, mining, finance and government services while electricity, gas and water weighed on the outcome.
Investor focus will shift to third-quarter current account data on Thursday and foreign reserves numbers on Friday.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last down 1.1%, dragged down mainly by mining stocks.
South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was stronger as the yield fell 4.5 basis points to 8.46%.
Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Ros Russell
Source: Reuters