• USD/ZAR strengthened on Wednesday as a stronger dollar overshadowed domestic inflation and retail sales figures released by the country's statistics agency.
• South Africa annual inflation edged down to 3.5% in January from 3.6% in December, slightly above the 3.4% forecast of economists.
• Retail sales rose 2.6% year-on-year in December, missing Reuters' poll estimates of 3.1%.
• Separately, a gauge of South African business confidence edged lower in January, data showed on Wednesday, but it remained at a high level after a significant improvement last year.
• The rand often takes cues from global drivers such as U.S. policy in addition to domestic economic data.
• Immediate resistance is located at 15.966(38.2%fib), any close above will push the pair towards 16.074 (SMA 20).
• Strong support is seen at 15.720(23.6%fib) and break below could take the pair towards 15.574(Lower BB)
Recommendation: Good to sell around 16.100 with stop loss of 16.300 and target price of 15.900
