{"id":28967,"date":"2026-03-17T11:55:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=28967"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:55:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:55:47","slug":"rand-weakens-as-middle-east-conflict-weighs-on-sentiment","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-weakens-as-middle-east-conflict-weighs-on-sentiment\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand weakens as Middle East conflict weighs on sentiment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The South African (SA) Rand edged lower in early Tuesday dealings as market sentiment remained cautious \u200bamid continuing conflict in the Middle East, \u200cafter the United States (US) embassy in Iraq was hit by a drone attack.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Rand traded at 16.77 against \u200bthe Dollar, about 0.6% weaker than its \u200bprevious close.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">A wave of drone and rocket attacks \u2060targeted the US embassy in Baghdad early on Tuesday, \u200bIraqi security sources said, describing it as the most \u200bintense assault since the attacks began, with at least five drones used.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8220;I cannot see the Rand pushing too much stronger, unless \u200bsomething gives. Especially after the US embassy in \u200bIraq was hit by a drone attack last night and \u200ccontinued \u2060action in Lebanon,&#8221; said Adam Phillips, Treasury Specialist at Umkhulu Treasury.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The Dollar was flat against a basket of currencies as investors look to the Federal Reserve&#8217;s \u200btwo day policy meeting \u200bthat begins \u2060later on Tuesday.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">The Fed is widely expected to hold rates for a second straight \u200bmeeting when it announces its policy decision \u200bon \u2060Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Like other risk-sensitive currencies, the Rand often takes cues from global drivers, in addition to domestic economic data.<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">SA&#8217;s \u200bbenchmark 2035 government bond was \u200balso weaker in early deals, with the yield rising 9.5 basis points \u200bto<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-28967","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand edged lower in early Tuesday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28967","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\/28967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28968,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28967\/revisions\/28968"}],"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=28967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}