Rand pauses after sharp fall

The rand was steady in early trade on Thursday, after plummeting a day earlier when a US banking crisis spread to Europe and led to a sharp deterioration in global risk appetite.

At 09:20, the rand traded at R18.43 against the dollar.

The local currency ended about 1.6% lower against the US dollar on Wednesday, shrugging off a smaller-than-expected contraction in local retail sales in January.

No major South African economic data releases are due on Thursday.

Recent data have pointed to ongoing weakness in Africa’s most industrialised economy, after a bigger-than-forecast fall in the fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

Severe power constraints are hurting businesses of all sizes, leading the central bank to expect almost no economic growth this year.

South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was also broadly flat in early deals, with the yield at 10.040%.