Market News
South African rand little changed with global focus on US-China trade talks - REUTERS
BY Sfundo Parakozov
JOHANNESBURG, May 9 (Reuters) – The South African rand was little changed on Friday, with the global focus on U.S.-China trade talks this weekend after a U.S. deal with Britain raised hopes for progress in tariff talks with other countries.
At 0755 GMT the rand traded at 18.18 against the dollar ZAR=D3, not far from Thursday’s close of 18.2075.
The currency has been highly volatile in recent weeks, slumping to a record low last month due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and domestic budget disputes before recovering on signs that South Africa’s coalition government will hold.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will present a revised budget on May 21 after scrapping a proposed value-added tax increase, the most contentious element of earlier budget versions.
Analysts say the rand will be sensitive to any headlines on further budget changes.
The benchmark 2030 government bond ZAR2030= was also broadly flat in early deals, with the yield down 1 basis point to 8.84%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov. Editing by Alexander Winning and Mark Potter)
