{"id":21768,"date":"2025-12-29T11:19:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T09:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-softens-as-bullion-prices-take-a-breather\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:32:44","slug":"rand-softens-as-bullion-prices-take-a-breather","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-softens-as-bullion-prices-take-a-breather\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand softens as bullion prices take a breather"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At 09h40 CAT, the Rand traded at 16.7025 against the Dollar, down about 0.3% from its previous close. The Dollar was relatively flat against a basket of major currencies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Precious metals pulled back on Monday, with silver retreating after breaching $80 per ounce earlier in the day and gold easing from close to record highs as investors booked profits and safe-haven demand cooled.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Despite the short-term pullback, the broader outlook for both metals remains positive in a lower-rate global environment,&#8221; said Wichard Cilliers, head of market risk at TreasuryONE.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>SA&#8217;s risk-sensitive currency is on course for gains of more than 12% against the dollar this year, bolstered by the nation&#8217;s improved fiscal performance and success in containing inflation, as well as soaring prices of precious metals such as gold and platinum, which are major exports.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last up 0.2% in early trade, with Aspen Pharmacare&#8217;s shares rising more than 20% after the pharmaceuticals company announced plans to sell its major Asia Pacific assets, excluding China, for $1.6 billion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13100,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-21768","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":" The South African (SA) Rand softened in early trade on Monday as investors booked profits from a precious metals rally.","published_date":null,"news_description":" The South African (SA) Rand softened in early trade on Monday as investors booked profits from a precious metals rally.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25310,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21768\/revisions\/25310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=21768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}