By Mpho Hlakudi.
@FreePik.
South Africa’s rand strengthened past 16 per dollar for the first time in almost four years, extending a rally fuelled by global appetite for riskier assets as the US currency retreats.
The rand gained 0.8% to trade at R15.99 per dollar at 10:36 a.m. in Johannesburg on Monday, its strongest level since June 2022.
Record-high gold prices and domestic political stability have bolstered the allure of the country’s assets to foreign investors. The rand has also benefited from the decline in the dollar — the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell about 8% last year on concerns about US President Donald Trump’s tariff war and as the Federal Reserve began easing interest rates.
In addition, China has indicated it’s tolerant of a stronger yuan, bolstering emerging-market currencies including the rand.
“The rand is being driven by a large positive move in South Africa’s terms of trade, largely driven by moves in precious metals,” said Adam Furlan, a portfolio manager at Ninety One SA “Portfolio flows have also had a positive impact with inflows into EM equities and fixed income positive at the start of the year.”