South African rand falls; GDP and current account due this week

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa's rand fell on Monday as the dollar rose strongly on global markets at the start of a busy week for local economic data with gross domestic product (GDP) and current account figures due.

At 1530 GMT, the rand traded at 18.8075 against the dollar, about 1% weaker than its previous close.

The dollar last traded around 0.6% stronger against a basket of global currencies.

"The rand has very much been a passenger to broader dollar moves today," said Danny Greeff at ETM Analytics.

Statistics South Africa will publish third-quarter GDP numbers on Tuesday, with analysts polled by Reuters predicting a small contraction in both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter terms.

The central bank will publish Q3 current account data on Thursday, with a deficit of 1.9% of GDP forecast compared to 2.3% in the previous quarter.

Other releases this week include a whole-economy PMI survey on Tuesday.

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the blue-chip Top-40 index closed up about 0.2%. The yield on the benchmark 2030 government bond was down 2 basis points at 9.96%.

(Reporting by Tannur AndersEditing by Alexander Winning and Sharon Singleton)