The rand was firmer on Wednesday afternoon following the release of upbeat consumer inflation numbers for April.

Statistics SA reported the consumer price index (CPI) for April at 5.3% year on year‚ down from 6.1% in March. The market had projected inflation would fall to between 5.4% and 5.6%.

Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan said much of the deviation between consensus expectations and the actual headline CPI outcome could likely be accounted for by food price developments.

The contribution to consumer inflation from food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased from 1.5 percentage points to 1.1 percentage points year on year between March and April.

Kaplan said the inflation trajectory showed a return to the Reserve Bank’s target range of 3% to 6% in 2017‚ on softer food price growth and a continued absence of meaningful demand-led inflation.

At 3.48pm‚ the rand was at R12.9374 to the dollar from R13.0754‚ at R14.4771 to the euro from R14.6206‚ and at R16.7450 to the pound from R16.9568.

The euro was at $1.1189 from $1.1183.