Rand slips on global growth fears

The South African rand slipped on Tuesday, as fears about the health of the global economy dampened appetite for riskier emerging market assets.

At 1435 GMT, the rand was 0.2% weaker versus the dollar at 13.8575.

The International Monetary Fund’s warning of a darkening economic outlook after China’s confirmation of its slowest growth rate in nearly 30 years were among factors weighing on investor sentiment.

“Ongoing uncertainty over the Sino-US trade war and a cooling Chinese economy are likely to push risk-averse investors towards safe-haven currencies,” said Jee-A van der Linde, an economist at NKC African Economics.

“The rand is expected to remain under pressure.”

The rand fell by more than 13% against the dollar in 2018 but is up around 3.5% since the end of last year, helped by a retreat in the dollar in early January.

On the Johannesburg stock market, the Top-40 index was down 0.4% at 47 865 points, while the broader All-share index fell 0.3% to 53 974 points.

South African government bonds bucked the weaker trend, edging higher as the yield on the benchmark 2026 instrument fell 4.5 basis points to 8.85%.