{"id":42524,"date":"2026-08-14T12:37:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=42524"},"modified":"2026-08-14T12:37:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:37:23","slug":"rand-holds-firm-amid-cooling-us-data-middle-east-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-holds-firm-amid-cooling-us-data-middle-east-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand holds firm amid cooling US data, Middle East uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>South Africa&#8217;s (SA) Rand was little changed on Friday as easing United States (US) inflation boosted speculation \u200bthe Federal Reserve would keep rates on hold, \u200cwhile Middle East tensions supported the Dollar.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Rand traded at 16.18 against the Dollar, little changed \u200bfrom its previous close of 16.1924.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Risk sentiment \u200bremained fragile after the US signalled \u2060it could maintain its naval blockade of Iran indefinitely \u200band step up economic pressure on Tehran, highlighting the \u200brisk of a prolonged Middle East conflict.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The SA currency typically gains when risk appetite is strong, but fears that \u200bthe US and Iran standoff could disrupt oil supplies and \u200bhurt global growth may keep investors cautious.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Dollar remained range-bound \u200cafter \u2060softer-than-expected US producer prices data reduced expectations for a September Federal rate hike.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top 40 index was down 0.6% in early trade.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>SA&#8217;s \u2060benchmark \u200b2035 government bond was slightly \u200bweaker in early deals, with the yield up 2 basis points \u200bto 8.435%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34578,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-42524","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand was little changed on Friday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42524","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\/42524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42525,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42524\/revisions\/42525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}