{"id":27530,"date":"2026-03-03T09:54:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T07:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=27530"},"modified":"2026-03-03T09:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T07:54:25","slug":"rand-steady-as-geopolitical-tensions-drive-safe-haven-demand","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-steady-as-geopolitical-tensions-drive-safe-haven-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand steady as geopolitical tensions drive safe-haven demand"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The South African (SA) Rand held steady in early Tuesday trade, even as investors sought safe-haven assets amid escalating \u200bUnited States (US) and Israeli strikes on Iran and \u200cfears the conflict could broaden into a longer regional war and add to market uncertainty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Rand traded at 16.1475 against the US Dollar , little \u200bchanged from Monday&#8217;s close of 16.1175.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;At this stage, the \u2060Rand is sitting on the sidelines, as attention \u200bis on the EUR and JPY because they \u200bimport a great deal of oil and gas,&#8221; said Adam Phillips, treasury specialist at Umkhulu Treasury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Dollar firmed 0.2% \u200bagainst a basket of currencies, with gold, a major SA export, extending gains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Like other risk-sensitive currencies, \u200cthe \u2060rand often takes cues from global drivers such as US policies, in addition to domestic economic data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond was also \u200bflat in \u200bearly deals, \u2060with the yield at 8.16%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Phillips said there are worries that the conflict could drive \u200bup inflation, and economists are now expecting \u200bfewer \u2060interest rate cuts over the next six months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;I would be surprised to see the RAand break \u2060below \u200b16.00, just because of its \u200bbeta status, but for the moment, 16.22 is the resistance level,&#8221; he \u200bnoted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13933,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-27530","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand held steady in early Tuesday trade","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27530","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\/27530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27531,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27530\/revisions\/27531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=27530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}