The South African rand extended this week"s losses on Wednesday, as surging COVID-19 infections locally and a U.S. Federal Reserve policy announcement later in the day sapped risk appetite. At 1552 GMT, the rand traded at 16.1825 against the dollar, around 0.5% weaker than its previous close. South Africa reported over 23,000 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday in a fourth wave linked to the Omicron variant, approaching an all-time high number of daily infections. At 1900 GMT the Fed is expected to announce that it is speeding up the end of its pandemic-era bond purchases and signal a turn to interest rate rises next year as a guard against inflation at near four-decade highs. read more U.S. interest rate hikes tend to drain capital away from higher-yielding but riskier emerging markets including South Africa, weighing on their currencies. Earlier on Wednesday, data showed annual consumer inflation accelerated to 5.5% in November from 5.0% in October, slightly ahead of economists" forecasts for a 5.4% reading. November producer inflation came in well above expectations at 9.6% versus predictions for 8.9%. The Johannesburg stock market was mostly muted, with a marginal loss at the day"s close as investors were cautious before the Fed"s policy statement. The All-share index (.JALSH) lost 0.11% to end at 71,467 points and the blue-chip Top-40 index (.JTOPI) dropped 0.17% to 65,102 points. Reporting by Alexander Winning and Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Giles Elgood Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.