Rand firmer as dollar falls on rate cut bets

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand firmed early on Tuesday, boosted by a dollar slide to multi-month lows against other major currencies as investors looked to emerging markets in the wake of dovish turn by U.S. and eurozone central banks.
At 0730 GMT the rand was 0.37% firmer at 14.3100 per dollar from an overnight close of 14.3600.
Selling in the dollar has accelerated since the U.S. Federal Reserve last week signalled it would cut interest rates before year-end on mounting worries about the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and others.
In stocks, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Tuesday it expected its half-year earnings to rise by at least 80%, helped by rising metals prices and one-off impairments that weighed on results in the same period a year earlier.
Gold prices climbed more than 1% on Tuesday to their highest in six years as U.S.-Iran tensions drove investors towards the safe-haven.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 Index was down 0.15% in early trade at 52,683 points.
Bonds were firmer ahead of a weekly auction of long-term Treasury issues. The yield on the benchmark 2026 bond fell 3 basis points to 8.14%. – Reuters Africa