JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand weakened on Monday, weighed down by a much stronger dollar and lower gold prices after the United States and China announced a deal to cut reciprocal tariffs.
The agreement brightened the financial market outlook and led to investors dumping safe-haven assets like gold, which fell 3%.
At 1355 GMT, rand traded at 18.30 against the dollar, down 0.5% on Friday’s closing level.
“Trade progress between the U.S. and China suggests renewed interest in U.S. assets … That is helping what has been a depressed dollar recover,” said Shaun Murison, a senior market analyst at IG.
The dollar index last traded up 1% against a basket of currencies.
This week the domestic focus is on South Africa’s first-quarter unemployment data scheduled for publication on Tuesday, followed by March mining production on Thursday.
Oxford Economics said both releases were likely to disappoint, in line with its below-consensus forecast that gross domestic product would grow only 1% this year.
The local bourse’s Top-40 index was last up 0.2%, while the benchmark 2030 government bond dropped as the yield rose 6.5 basis points to 8.89%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; editing by Alexander Winning, Hugh Lawson and Mark Heinrich)
