At 1611 GMT, the rand traded at 14.7902 against the dollar, 0.47% weaker than its previous close.

China's factory output and retail sales growth slowed sharply and missed expectations in July, as new COVID-19 outbreaks and floods disrupted business operations in the Asian country.

China is one of South Africa's largest trading partners, and South African assets are highly susceptible to swings in sentiment on international markets.

"Some concern is creeping into the market as the Delta variant is causing renewed lockdowns in several countries across the world," Andre Cilliers, Currency Strategist at TreasuryONE said.

Later in the week, investor attention will turn to South Africa's consumer price index (CPI) and retail sales data for clues about inflationary pressures and consumer demand.

Africa's most industrialised nation has seen an uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with some sectors such as mining buoyed by bumper commodity prices but others like tourism still badly affected.

Among equities, South African heavy-weighted tech stocks were yet again at the mercy of investors pulling out of highly valued tech stocks in China, following state media commentary calling for stronger vetting of online games.

It sent shares in Chinese internet behemoth Tencent Holdings Ltd and other video game companies skidding.

The decline dragged e-commerce giant Naspers down 7.38% and its subsidiary Prosus 5.07% lower. Prosus holds a 28.9% stake in Tencent.

Petrochemicals firm Sasol Ltd closed 5% weaker after its chief financial officer said on Monday the company expects asset sales and robust crude and chemical prices to continue to buoy cash flow this year, though a resurgence of COVID-19 in China could depress that outlook.

Sasol also did not declare a dividend to conserve cash.

Overall, the All-Share Index fell 0.81% and the Top-40 index dropped 1.05%.

Local government bonds also weakened, with the yield on the 2030 instrument up 1.5 basis points at 8.900%.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Alexander Winning; Editing by Giles Elgood and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)