{"id":30620,"date":"2026-04-02T12:47:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=30620"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:47:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:47:46","slug":"rand-falls-more-than-1-as-trump-vows-more-strikes-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-falls-more-than-1-as-trump-vows-more-strikes-on-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand falls more than 1% as Trump vows more strikes on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">The South African (SA) Rand fell more than 1% in early trade on Thursday, \u200bafter United States (US) President Donald Trump vowed \u200cmore aggressive strikes on Iran, spooking investors who had been betting on a fast resolution to the \u200bwar.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">The Rand traded at \u200b17.0250 against the Dollar, 1.3% weaker than \u2060its previous close.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">In a prime-time address to \u200bthe nation late on Wednesday, Trump said the \u200bUS would carry out aggressive strikes on Iran over the next two to three weeks and was nearing &#8220;completion \u200bof its main strategic objectives&#8221; in the \u200bconflict.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">This pushed the US Dollar and oil prices higher, \u200cdampening \u2060demand for emerging market currencies and fuelling inflation concerns in net energy importers like SA.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">The Rand has been at the mercy of \u200bglobal market \u200bsentiment since \u2060the US and Israel started the war at the end of \u200bFebruary and Iran retaliated.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">The local currency had \u200ba \u2060strong 2025 and had started 2026 on the front foot, making it vulnerable to a \u2060correction, \u200banalysts say.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 \u200bgovernment bond was flat in early deals, with the yield \u200bat 8.885%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13745,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-30620","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Electoral Commission today officially unveiled the identity logo","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30620","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\/30620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30621,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30620\/revisions\/30621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=30620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}