JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand gained early on Tuesday as broad dollar weakness supported investor appetite for riskier assets after Washington imposing additional tariffs on Chinese imports.
At 0645 GMT (8:45am local time) the rand was 0.35 percent stronger at 14.8750 per dollar compared with its New York close of 14.9275.
Trade-war tensions have intensified as U.S. President Donald Trump imposed additional 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports on Monday.
Washington has imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese products to pressure China to make sweeping changes to its trade, technology transfer and high-tech industrial subsidy policies. Beijing has retaliated and talks between the world’s two largest economies to resolve their trade differences have produced no results.
The rand is expected to trade at 14.80 to 15.10 to the dollar on Tuesday, according to an early NKC African Economics note.
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was flat at 9.250 percent.
Stocks were set to open higher at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index up 0.07 percent.
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