{"id":31091,"date":"2026-04-08T11:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31091"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:30:22","slug":"rand-gains-more-than-2-as-us-iran-ceasefire-lifts-risk-appetite","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-gains-more-than-2-as-us-iran-ceasefire-lifts-risk-appetite\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand gains more than 2% as US-Iran ceasefire lifts risk appetite"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">South Africa\u2019s (SA) risk-sensitive rand firmed more than 2% in early trade this Wednesday, paring losses amassed since the start\u00a0\u200bof the United States (US)-Israeli war on Iran after \u200cUS President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire, easing fears of energy-driven inflation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Trump\u2019s turnaround came shortly before a deadline he had \u200bset for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a \u200bkey shipping route for about 20% of global oil \u2060or face widespread attacks on its civilian \u200binfrastructure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Rand traded at \u200b16.45 against the Dollar, roughly up 2.2% from Tuesday\u2019s close and around its strongest level in almost a \u200bmonth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The currency has been highly sensitive to swings in global risk sentiment \u200bsince the conflict started on February 28, triggering Iranian retaliation and fuelling volatility \u200cacross \u2060emerging markets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">News of the ceasefire capped weeks of market choppiness, sending oil prices tumbling below $100 a barrel and lifting assets in net-energy-importing nations like \u200bSA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The \u200bRand had fallen \u2060nearly 6% last month, with economists expecting inflation to rise in \u200bthe net energy-importing economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Meanwhile, the US\u00a0\u200bDollar\u00a0\u2060was little changed against a basket of currencies as investors awaited minutes of the Federal Reserve\u2019s March policy meeting\u00a0\u2060on\u00a0\u200bWednesday, and the upcoming US\u00a0\u200binflation indicators, including the Personal Consumption Expenditures and the Consumer Price Index\u00a0\u200bdata.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-31091","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The\u00a0\u200bRand had fallen\u00a0\u2060nearly 6% last month, with economists expecting inflation to rise in\u00a0\u200bthe net energy-importing economy.","published_date":"","news_description":"The\u00a0\u200bRand had fallen\u00a0\u2060nearly 6% last month, with economists expecting inflation to rise in\u00a0\u200bthe net energy-importing economy.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31091","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\/31091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31092,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31091\/revisions\/31092"}],"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=31091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}