South African stocks fall after Fed signals pause, rand slips

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South African stocks fell on Thursday as worries about the banking sector rippled around the globe, while the rand gave up gains from earlier in the day which had come after the Federal Reserve had suggested it may stop hiking rates.

The banking sector dampened the local market, sliding almost 3.2%.

Shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange tumbled, with both the blue-chip Top-40 index and the broader all-share index closing down around 1.2%.

"Both the ongoing banking crisis in the U.S. and the prospect of possibly lower interest rates following yesterday's Fed guidance have been major contributors," said DailyFX analyst Warren Venketas, referring to the dip in stocks.

At 1525 GMT, the rand traded at 18.3350 against the dollar, about 0.3% weaker than its previous close.

The rand had strengthened as much as 0.6% earlier in the day due to return of some risk appetite to the markets.

The dollar, however, recovered on Thursday and was last up about 0.267% against six rivals, helped by European Central Bank easing its pace of rate hikes and data showing that U.S. Unit labour costs - the price of labour per single unit of output - surged at a 6.3% rate in the first quarter.

South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 1.5 basis points at 10.105%.

(Reporting by Tannur Anders and Nellie PeytonEditing by Alexander Winning, Bhargav Acharya and Toby Chopra)