{"id":35029,"date":"2026-05-21T11:50:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=35029"},"modified":"2026-05-21T11:50:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:50:58","slug":"rand-dips-as-investors-monitor-us-iran-talks-mull-inflation-spike","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-dips-as-investors-monitor-us-iran-talks-mull-inflation-spike\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand dips as investors monitor US, Iran talks, mull inflation spike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The South African (SA) Rand edged lower in early trade on Thursday, with cautious traders tracking United States (US) and Iran \u200bpeace talks while digesting domestic data which showed \u200ca spike in April inflation as the effects of the war fed through into prices.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rand traded \u200bat 16.5225 against the Dollar, about 0.4% weaker \u200bthan its previous close.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Iran said it was reviewing Washington’s \u2060latest position on ending the war after US President Donald \u200bTrump suggested he was prepared to wait a few \u200bdays to “get the right answers” from Tehran.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Like other risk-sensitive currencies, the Rand often takes cues from global drivers.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It has been at \u200bthe mercy of global market sentiment since the \u200bstart of the US and Israeli war with Iran at the end of February.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Inflation \u200cin \u2060Africa’s largest economy accelerated sharply in April, increasing the likelihood that the Central bank will hike interest rates when it meets to assess its monetary policy stance next week.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Johann \u200bEls, Chief \u200bEconomist at PSG \u2060Financial Services, said inflation is likely to reach 5% by mid-year.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Els added that \u200bhe expects the SA Reserve Bank to \u200braise \u2060interest rates by 25 basis points to limit second-round inflation effects.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top 40 index was \u2060last \u200bdown 0.4%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SA’s benchmark 2035 \u200bgovernment bond also weakened in early deals, as the yield rose 7.5 \u200bbasis points to 8.79%.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15730,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-35029","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Rand edged lower in early trade on Thursday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35029","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\/35029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35030,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35029\/revisions\/35030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}