JOHANNESBURG, May 27 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand was little changed early on Monday at the start of a packed week headlined by the national election and also featuring an interest rate decision and a slew of other economic data releases.

At 0715 GMT, the rand traded at 18.4325 against the dollar ZAR=D3, not far from its previous close of 18.4250.

South Africans vote in national and provincial elections on May 29, with market participants eager to learn whether the governing African National Congress would lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.

“The local currency has managed to hold below the key 18.50 technical level for now, but with the election on Wednesday, we could still see some volatility and a possible break above,” said Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE.

The South African Reserve Bank will announce its latest monetary policy decision on Thursday, a day after the election.

Monthly producer inflation, trade and budget balance data are also due this week.

On the stock market, the Top-40 .JTOPI index was up 0.3% in early trade.

South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond ZAR2030= was weaker, with the yield up 4.3 basis points to 10.578%.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Toby Chopra)