By Oyintari Ben
On Friday, the South African rand declined against the dollar as a result of better-than-expected US jobs statistics, which suggested that the Federal Reserve might continue its cycle of rate hikes.
The rand’s price versus the dollar ZAR=D3 was 18.4200 at 15:12 GMT, down almost 0.7% from Thursday’s closing price.
The United States non-farm payrolls increased by 253,000 in April, exceeding the 180,000 growth forecast by experts, indicating continued labour market strength that may force the Fed to maintain higher interest rates for longer to contain inflation.
After the report, the dollar index =USD surged before losing ground to trade close to where it had last closed at 101.34.
In the absence of local catalysts, the risk-sensitive rand frequently takes cues from global forces like US economic statistics.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s shares rebounded from their previous day’s decline, closing the week upward.
The Top-40 blue-chip index.JTOPI closed up by 1.13% compared to the larger all-share index.JALSH increased by 1.12%.
According to Shaun Murison, senior market analyst at IG, “equity markets look to have been given a late week reprieve after US employment data saw the U.S. leading the rest of the world higher in afternoon trade.”
The benchmark 2030 government bond for South Africa, ZAR2030=, declined, with the yield increasing by four basis points to 10.130%.
