Eskom employees returning to work

The rand edged higher in early trade on Wednesday after Eskom and trade unions cited progress in talks to end a strike that has caused the country’s worst power cuts in more than two years.

At 9.08am, the rand traded at R16.07/US$, up 0.12% from its previous close. But analysts said the rand was still vulnerable to dollar moves on global markets and developments in the country’s power crisis.

“Further dollar strength and Eskom woes could see the rand test R16.20 in the short term,” Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryOne, said in a research note.

Eskom implemented stage-6 power cuts on Tuesday after 10 of its generation units went offline and the strike hampered efforts to bring them back online. Many employees were returning to work on Wednesday, with no reported incidents of protest so far, an Eskom spokesman said in a statement.

On the JSE, the Top40 index was down 1.22%, while the broader All-Share index fell 1.21% in early trade. The government’s benchmark 2030 bond was slightly higher in early deals, with the yield down three basis points to 10.405%.  — Bhargav Acharya, (c) 2022 Reuters