johannesburg may 10 reuters  the south african rand was little changed in early trade on wednesday after a steep fall the previous day with global market attention firmly pinned on us inflation figures due later in the day at 0545 gmt the rand traded at 186425 against the us currency  not far from its previous close of 186375 the risksensitive rand lost more than 16 against the greenback on tuesday as caution built ahead of wednesdays us consumer price inflation cpi print scheduled for 1230 gmt the cpi numbers are expected to set the tone for global markets as investors will scrutinise them for clues about the federal reserves future monetary policy decisions the fed has been on a 15month ratehiking cycle but signalled a possible pause at its last policy meeting economists expect the headline cpi to hold steady at an annual 5 and core cpi to moderate very slightly to 55 though anything stickier could confound bets interest rates will fall among local drivers south africas central bank governor lesetja kganyago will from 0900 gmt deliver a lecture on the topic challenges facing the global economy a south african perspective