Rand loses ground as dollar recovers

The rand weakened on Tuesday, eating into strong gains since the start of the year as the dollar recovered following a recent slump.

At 15:18 GMT, the rand traded at 13.93 versus the US currency, 0.3% weaker than its previous close.

Similar falls were seen in other emerging market currencies like the Russian rouble and Turkish lira as the dollar index was more than 0.2% stronger.

“Appetite for the rand and many other emerging markets has been impacted by a stabilising dollar,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at forex broker FXTM.

After a torrid 2018 the rand enjoyed a strong start to this year, helped by dovish comments by US Federal Reserve policymakers which hurt the dollar.

Despite Tuesday’s decline, it is still up more than 2% against the dollar in 2019.

On the bourse, the benchmark JSE Top-40 index ended 0.5 percent higher at 46,116 while the broader All-share index gained 0.6% to 52,165.

In fixed income, government bonds also fell, with the yield on the 2026 bond up 4 basis points to 8.810 percent.

The government sold R2.85 billion of bonds on Tuesday at lower yields than previously. ($1 = 14.0023 rand)