{"id":31011,"date":"2026-04-07T15:08:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=31011"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:35:01","slug":"rand-weakens-as-us-presidents-iran-deadline-keeps-markets-on-edge","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-weakens-as-us-presidents-iran-deadline-keeps-markets-on-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand weakens as\u00a0US President\u2019s Iran deadline keeps markets on edge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The South African (SA) Rand was weaker in early trade on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of a deadline \u200bset by United States (US) President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the \u200cStrait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Rand traded at 16.93 against the Dollar , down about 0.4% from its previous close.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iran and Israel traded attacks as Tehran \u200brefused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept a \u200bceasefire deal on the eve of Trump’s deadline to \u2060agree to his demands or get “taken out.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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War in the Middle East \u200band the closure of the chokepoint in the Persian Gulf have \u200bsent energy prices soaring, with oil prices currently holding above $110 a barrel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Rand has been at the mercy of global market sentiment since the US and \u200bIsrael started the war at the end of February and Iran \u200bretaliated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The local currency fell about 6% last month with economists expecting inflation to \u200crise \u2060in the net energy-importing nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Global traders are walking on eggshells at the moment,” said ETM Analytics in a note, adding that further updates on the war will offer directional clarity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“At face value, it \u200bstill appears that \u200bthe US \u2060and Iran are worlds apart, with neither willing to negotiate on the other’s terms,” said the note.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Domestic\u00a0\u200binvestors will analyse the March S&P Global Purchasing\u00a0\u200bManagers’ Index\u00a0\u2060for clues on the health of Africa’s largest economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The US Dollar was flat against a basket of currencies as global traders awaited minutes \u2060of \u200bthe Fed’s March policy meeting on \u200bWednesday, as well as US inflation indicators including the Personal Consumption Expenditures and Consumer Price \u200bIndex data later this week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-31011","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand was weaker in early trade on Tuesday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31011","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\/31011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31012,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31011\/revisions\/31012"}],"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=31011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}