{"id":31294,"date":"2026-04-10T10:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T08:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31294"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T08:25:18","slug":"rand-slips-in-early-trade-us-iran-talks-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-slips-in-early-trade-us-iran-talks-in-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand slips in early trade, US-Iran talks in focus"},"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 was marginally weaker in early trade on Friday, with its \u200bfuture direction likely to be determined by the \u200coutcome of weekend talks between the Unite States (US) and Iran in Islamabad.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Rand traded at 16.42 against\u00a0\u200bthe Dollar, about 0.1% weaker than its previous\u00a0\u200bclose.<\/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);\">Despite the modest fall, the risk-sensitive currency \u2060was set to end the week more than \u200b3% stronger versus the dollar.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The rand surged on Wednesday\u00a0\u200bafter US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran and has held most of those gains since.<\/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);\">Adam \u200bPhillips, Treasury Specialist at Umkhulu Treasury, said in \u200ba morning note that the market mood was &#8220;steady but nervous&#8221;. For \u200cthe \u2060rand, &#8220;it all centres on (the talks in) Islamabad this weekend,&#8221; Phillips added.<\/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 will hold its weekly inflation-linked bond auction on Friday, but no major domestic \u200beconomic data \u200bis scheduled \u2060for release.<\/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);\">February manufacturing production figures published on Thursday showed the sector was weak before \u200bthe Iran war.<\/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);\">Africa&#8217;s biggest economy had \u200bstarted to build \u2060momentum last year and investor confidence was on the rise.<\/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);\">Days before the Middle East conflict erupted \u2060the \u200bSA government predicted growth would \u200baccelerate again this year to 1.6%, but that forecast will probably \u200bbe revised.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-31294","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand was marginally weaker in early trade on Friday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31294","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\/31294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31296,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31294\/revisions\/31296"}],"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=31294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}