{"id":27895,"date":"2026-03-06T11:46:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=27895"},"modified":"2026-03-06T11:46:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:46:47","slug":"rand-firms-despite-middle-east-war-supported-by-gold","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-firms-despite-middle-east-war-supported-by-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand firms despite Middle East war, supported by gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The South African (SA) Rand firmed in early trade on Friday, as stronger \u200bgold prices, now back above $5 100, provide \u200csome support given the metal&#8217;s importance to SA&#8217;s export earnings.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Rand traded at \u200b16.5625 against the Dollar, about 0.5% \u200bup from its previous close.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Key SA \u2060exports gold and platinum rose on global \u200bmarkets.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>ESG Analytics Economist Sifiso Skenjana said the rand&#8217;s \u200brecovery has been driven by stronger demand for gold, as well as the effective closure of the \u200bStrait of Hormuz, which has created port-related \u200brevenue opportunities for SA.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Some ships may need to \u200cbe \u2060rerouted via Cape Agulhas, which could lift SA&#8217;s port-related revenues, one of the factors the market appears to be pricing \u200binto the currency,&#8221; \u200bsaid \u2060Skenjana.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond was flat in early deals, \u200bas the yield rose 3 basis \u200bpoints \u2060to 8.27%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reutets&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-27895","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand firmed in early trade on Friday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27895","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\/27895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27896,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27895\/revisions\/27896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=27895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}