South African rand slave to U.S. rate hike expectations

South Africa's rand hovered near the previous day's one-month lows against the dollar on Thursday as prospects of a U.S. interest rate hike in December dented the appeal of high-yieling emerging market currencies. The rand was also victim of South Africa's Standard Bank purchasing managers' index slumping to a 15-month low, the latest sign of stress in Africa's most industrialised economy. By 0640 GMT, the rand was trading at 13.9525 versus the greenback, little changed from Wednesday's close at