Rand extends losses amid global trade tensions

The rand extended losses against the dollar early on Friday, with markets gripped by worries over escalating trade tensions between the United States and China.

At 0623 GMT, the rand traded at 13.50 per dollar, 0.37% weaker than its overnight close. The currency on Thursday weakened by more than 1%

China vowed on Thursday to retaliate if the United States acted on a threat to raise tariffs on China’s exports, after US President Donald Trump instructed his trade officials to look at increasing tariffs to 25% from 10% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports into the United States

“The rand along with its emerging market peers, especially the yuan and Turkish lira, have come under sustained pressure over the most recent sessions, due to various factors, but talk of an escalation in the talk of trade wars between China and the US (has been) the primary driver,” Nedbank analysts said in a note

In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark paper was up 2.5 basis points to 8.705%.