{"id":29621,"date":"2026-03-23T09:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=29621"},"modified":"2026-03-23T09:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:49:10","slug":"rand-starts-new-week-at-four-month-low-while-investors-eye-interest-rate-decision","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-starts-new-week-at-four-month-low-while-investors-eye-interest-rate-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand starts new week at four-month low while investors eye interest rate decision"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The South African (SA) Rand began the week at its lowest level in four months as escalating hostilities in the \u200bMiddle East kept oil prices high, stoking inflation worries \u200cahead of a much-anticipated interest rate decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rand traded at 17.2275 against the Dollar, down 1.3% from its previous close, at its weakest \u200blevel since late November 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Saturday, United States (US) President Donald Trump \u200bthreatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it did not \u2060fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, barely a \u200bday after he talked about “winding down” the war, now in its \u200bfourth week.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meanwhile, Iran said on Sunday it would strike the energy and water systems of its Gulf neighbours in retaliation if US President Donald Trump follows\u00a0\u200bthrough with his threat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Analysts expect continued pressure on the Rand \u200bafter a torrid three weeks, amid concerns that rising oil prices will lift inflation in \u200cnet \u2060energy-importer SA.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Domestically focused investor attention will be pinned on the central bank’s rate decision on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Economists polled by <\/span>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0expect the bank to keep its main lending rate steady at 6.75%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The S\u200bA Reserve Bank’s \u200bgovernor told \u2060Reuters earlier this month that the bank will revise its risk scenarios for its next policy meeting as \u200bthe Middle East conflict continues to push oil \u200bprices \u2060higher.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Other economic indicators due this week include the composite leading business cycle indicator on Tuesday, and producer inflation data on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Key SA exports \u2060gold \u200band platinum fell 5% and 9% respectively, \u200bfurther straining local assets.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SA’s benchmark 2035 government bond was flat in early deals, \u200bwith the yield at 9.2%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/span><\/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-29621","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand began the week at its lowest level","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29621","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\/29621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29622,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29621\/revisions\/29622"}],"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=29621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}