The South African rand continued its 6-day losing streak against its US counterpart in early New York trading on Wednesday. The rand reached a 12-day low of 7.6261 against the greenback by 9:40 am ET, compared to 7.5722 hit late New York Tuesday.

The rand has been in a downward channel versus the dollar since it touched a fresh multi-week high of 7.2708 on December 3. Since then, the domestic currency has depreciated more than 4.7 percent against the greenback. The rand is presently worth 7.5957 versus the buck and a move below the 7.652 support may pull down it to its lowest level in more than a month.

The rand declined as South Africa's retail sales at constant prices decreased 6.5% year-on-year in October, compared to the revised 4.9% fall in the previous month. Economists expected a decline of 6.2%. A year ago, retail sales were up 0.6%.

At the same time, the South African wholesale sales at constant prices decreased 11.5% year-on-year in October, compared to the 12.4% decline in the previous month. A year ago, wholesale sales were up 1.3%. Wholesales sales dropped 0.3% on a monthly basis in October.

Further, the Statistics South Africa also announced that the manufacturing production dropped 9.3% year-on-year in October, compared to the 11.4% fall in the previous month. Economists expected a decline of 10.8%. A year ago, manufacturing production was down 2.3%.

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