{"id":24003,"date":"2026-02-20T08:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-flat-amid-firmer-dollar-us-inflation-in-focus\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:45","slug":"rand-flat-amid-firmer-dollar-us-inflation-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-flat-amid-firmer-dollar-us-inflation-in-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand flat amid firmer Dollar, US inflation in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The South African (SA) Rand was flat in early trade on Friday as a stronger United States (US) Dollar continues to dominate trading, with investors also focused on upcoming US inflation data for clearer signals on the Federal Reserve’s next move.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rand traded at 16.1325 against the Dollar, little changed from its previous close of 16.15.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The greenback climbed to a near one-month high against a basket of currencies as investors awaited key US inflation data later in the day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Rand often takes cues from global drivers such as US policy in addition to domestic economic data.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“The Rand has had a tough week, steadily losing ground. It comes amid a trade-weighted Dollar that has steadily gained ground amid escalating geopolitical risks,” said ETM Analytics in a research note.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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US President Donald Trump warned Iran that it must reach a deal over its nuclear programme or “bad things” will happen, and appeared to set a 10-day deadline before the US might take action.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“The US’s posture towards Iran has some investors spooked that it may impact oil production, and Brent crude oil prices touched $72.0p\/b overnight. The implication is that it could keep inflationary pressures elevated and affect interest rates, which, in turn, would negatively impact stock markets,” said ETM Analytics.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last up 0.5% in early trade.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SA’s benchmark 2035 government bond was firm in early deals, as the yield fell 5 basis points to 7.985%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13745,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-24003","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":null,"news_description":"SA Rand was flat in early trade on Friday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24003","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\/24003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26815,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24003\/revisions\/26815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=24003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}