JOHANNESBURG, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The South African rand was steady against a weaker dollar on Monday, ahead of local and international interest rate announcements this week.

       At 1547 GMT, the rand traded at 19.0000 against the dollar , not far from its previous close of 18.9850.

       The dollar last traded down about 0.2% against a basket of global currencies.

       The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday and provide clues on the country's future rate path.

       "The SARB is expected to keep rates unchanged but remain hawkish on the back of concerns of an uptick in inflation on the back of the higher fuel price," said Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE.

       The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected to keep rates unchanged when it meets on Wednesday, he added, "but with a hawkish outlook given the higher oil price and higher inflation numbers".

       Shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange fell, with both the broader all-share index (.JALSH) and the blue-chip Top-40 index (.JTOPI) closing around 1% lower.

       South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker in afternoon deals, with the yield up 3.5 basis points to 10.510%.

       Reporting by Tannur Anders and Anait Miridzhanian, Editing by Bhargav Acharya, Alex Richardson and Andrea Ricci

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