JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand was stable on Wednesday, as investors awaited U.S. President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff plans, which they fear will cause an economic slowdown in the world’s biggest economy.
At 1321 GMT, the rand traded at 18.2750 against the U.S. dollar, near its Tuesday closing level of 18.2800.
The dollar was last up about 0.1% against a basket of currencies.
Investors feared that Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, expected to take effect on April 2, are likely to be inflationary, potentially slowing economic growth and intensifying trade tensions.
However, Trump said on Monday that not all of his threatened duties would be imposed next week and some countries may get breaks.
“Increasingly, one gets the sense that the U.S. economy is slowing and that the Trump administration does not want to exacerbate a downturn through the harsh imposition of tariffs,” ETM Analytics said in a research note.
Like other risk sensitive currencies, the rand often takes cues from global drivers like U.S. policies and economic data, in the absence of major local drivers.
South Africa-focused investors will on Thursday look to producer inflation figures for February for hints on the health of Africa’s most industrialised economy.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index was last up about 0.5%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was stronger, with the yield down 3 basis points to 9.115%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Tannur Anders;Editing by Bhargav Acharya, Andrew Heavens and Alison Williams)
