{"id":40051,"date":"2026-07-20T11:14:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=40051"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:14:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:14:33","slug":"rand-steady-as-investors-awaits-central-bank-guidance","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-steady-as-investors-awaits-central-bank-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand steady as investors awaits Central bank guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>South Africa&#8217;s (SA) Rand was steady in early trade on Monday ahead of this week&#8217;s monetary policy decision \u200bfrom the SA Reserve Bank, with higher \u200coil prices and elevated risk aversion limiting its ability to benefit from a softer United States (US) Dollar.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Rand traded at \u200b16.54 against the Dollar, little changed from its previous \u200bclose of 16.52.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Oil prices jumped about 3% on Monday, \u2060with Brent crude prices surpassing $90 per barrel, as escalating US and Iran \u200bhostilities in the Middle East restricted oil shipments through the \u200bStrait of Hormuz.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Dollar was also steady against a basket of currencies as demand for safe-haven assets amid US and Iran tensions was offset by \u200bexpectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates \u200bunchanged in July.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Market analysts say the rand is looking to the central \u200cbank \u2060for direction as it struggles to capitalise on a subdued Dollar.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Domestically focused investor attention will be pinned on June CPI on Wednesday and the central bank&#8217;s rate decision \u200bon Thursday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>ETM Analytics \u200bexpects annual \u2060consumer inflation to accelerate to around 4.9% in June from 4.5% in May, driven largely \u200bby higher transport costs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;On balance, another 25bp increase \u200bappears \u2060justified, especially because the SARB&#8217;s May projection already indicated one hike this quarter and its prolonged Hormuz scenario required additional \u2060tightening,&#8221; \u200bsaid ETM Analytics.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 \u200bgovernment bond was weaker in early deals, as the yield rose 5.5 basis \u200bpoints to 8.59%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-40051","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand was steady in early trade on Monday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40051","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\/40051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40052,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40051\/revisions\/40052"}],"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=40051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=40051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}