{"id":47819,"date":"2026-10-12T10:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=47819"},"modified":"2026-10-12T10:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:10:10","slug":"rand-steady-as-middle-east-conflict-us-inflation-test-sentiment","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-steady-as-middle-east-conflict-us-inflation-test-sentiment\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand steady as Middle East conflict, US inflation test sentiment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The South African (SA) Rand was steady in early trade on Monday as investors remained cautious amid \u200bthe Middle East conflict and awaited key United States (US) inflation \u200cdata later this week for clues on the Federal Reserve&#8217;s interest-rate path.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Rand traded at 16.50 against \u200bthe Dollar, unchanged from its previous close.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Dollar \u200bindex, which measures the greenback&#8217;s strength against a \u2060basket of six currencies, was steady but remained not \u200bfar from the 18-month peak it scaled last week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Investors&#8217; \u200bfocus is shifting to Wednesday&#8217;s US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, one of the last major data releases before the Federal Reserve&#8217;s late-October \u200bpolicy meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Federal raised rates last month for \u200bthe first time since 2023 to rein in inflation, with markets \u200ckeeping \u2060a close watch on economic data to gauge whether policymakers may move again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Traders are pricing in an 81% chance of the Fed standing pat this month, up \u200bfrom 51% \u200ba month earlier, \u2060the CME FedWatch tool showed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">ETM Analytics in a note said a stronger-than-expected US \u200bCPI reading could revive expectations of further Fed \u200btightening \u2060and test the rand&#8217;s recovery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">With no major domestic data due, the rand takes its cue from global developments, particularly \u2060US \u200beconomic indicators and geopolitical events.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">S\u200bA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond was flat in early trade, with the \u200byield at 8.795%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-47819","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"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\/47819","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\/47819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47820,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47819\/revisions\/47820"}],"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=47819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}