{"id":28364,"date":"2026-03-11T11:02:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=28364"},"modified":"2026-03-11T11:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:02:27","slug":"rand-steady-with-focus-on-middle-east-developments-us-inflation-prints","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-steady-with-focus-on-middle-east-developments-us-inflation-prints\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand steady with focus on Middle East developments, US inflation prints"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">South Africa&#8217;s (SA) Rand was steady early on Wednesday as investors watched developments in the Middle East and awaited two \u200bkey United States (US) inflation reports for signals on the Federal \u200cReserve&#8217;s policy outlook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Rand traded at 16.3050 per Dollar, little changed from Tuesday&#8217;s closing level.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The currency found some relief after US President \u200bDonald Trump said the Middle East conflict could come to \u200ban end soon, after hitting a three-month low of around \u206016.90 on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">However, traders remain cautious as Trump continued to threaten \u200btough action against Iran over disruptions to energy flows through the \u200bStrait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;The Dollar and Rand spike that happened on the escalation of the war appears to be quickly unwinding. If this unwind continues through the remainder \u200bof this week and next, the Dollar, Rand impact on inflation \u200band Gross Domestic Product growth will be limited,&#8221; ETM Analytics said in a research note.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The \u200cgreenback \u2060was flat against a basket of currencies as markets awaited the US consumer price index for February, due later in the day, and the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Federal&#8217;s preferred inflation gauge \u200bon Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Like other \u200brisk-sensitive currencies, \u2060the Rand often takes cues from global drivers, in addition to domestic economic data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Domestically focused investors this \u200bweek will look to the release of January \u200bmining \u2060and manufacturing and figures and fourth-quarter current account for clues on the health of the continent&#8217;s most industrialised economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, \u2060the \u200bTop-40 index was last up 1.8%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">SA&#8217;s \u200bbenchmark 2035 government bond was slightly stronger in early deals, as the yield fell \u200b1 basis point to 8.425%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-28364","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand was steady early on Wednesday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28364","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\/28364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28365,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28364\/revisions\/28365"}],"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=28364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}