The rand sank 0.8% as a surge in Covid-19 cases hit risk appetite. The country outlined plans to offer booster vaccine doses, as it grapples with a fourth wave of Covid-19 stemming from the Omicron variant.
China's yuan fell about 0.2%, while stocks also retreated on weaker-than-expected money market and credit data. "The data is likely to confirm the Fed's concerns that inflation is not going to be as transitory as originally expected and that tapering might have to be quicker after all with interest rates being hiked," analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a note.
A Turkish central bank survey forecast annual consumer price inflation at 23.85% at the end of the year, up from a forecast of 19.31% a month earlier.