JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s rand fell as much as 1.4 percent against the dollar on Tuesday, weighed down by a combination of global risk aversion and a surge in domestic corporate import demand following a public holiday on Monday.
Government bonds followed suit, with the yield for the 2026 benchmark climbing 10 basis points to 9.075 percent. The rand hit a session low 14.4820 to the greenback, the weakest it has been since April 28, and was trading 1.2 percent weaker at 14.4500 by 1107 GMT.
“From what we’ve picked up it’s got more to do with just corporate demand that’s come back into the market,” ETM analyst George Glynos said, adding that the rand was also pulling back after strong gains over the last couple of weeks. “The rand has come quite a long way, its probably due a bit of a retrace but I don’t think it’s anything to be particularly concerned about,” Glynos said.
On the South African bourse, stocks fell to three-week lows, tracking a sell-off in emerging markets. The benchmark Top-40 index was down 1.7 percent to 45,698 points while the broader All-Share index slipped 1.6 percent to 52,106.
