Latest news with #R18.55
IOL News
29-04-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Rand and dollar's steady climb as Trump wanes in popularity good news for consumer spending power
The stronger rand, meanwhile, boosts spending power for consumers buying anything in greenbacks – the currency against which all other forex is benchmarked. Image: Armand Hough/Independent Media US President Donald Trump's continued trade war – as well as his constant backtracking on tariffs as he bows to market pressure – have seen his popularity drop. However, both the local currency and gold, which is the ultimate safe haven, have benefitted from the situation in the US as the greenback has slowly declined in value. What does this mean for South Africa? Continued gains in the gold price lead to a psychological increase in the value of gold miners' shares and the currency, Dr Azar Jammine, director and chief economist at Econometrix, has said. Rand's growth in April Image: Morningstar The stronger rand, meanwhile, boosts spending power for consumers buying anything in greenbacks – the currency against which all other forex is benchmarked. Gold seems set to continue its meteoric rise, having breached $3 500 on April 21 – an all-time high. Although the yellow metal is down to $3 320 this morning, this could well be a blip. In February, JP Morgan predicted that gold would hit $3 000 this year. That figure has since been upgraded to $3 675 by late 2025 and even $4 000 in the middle of next year. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ A one-year view of the gold price as of April 29, 2025 Image: Trading Economics 'Traders are watching how South Africa will deal with the budget gap after cancelling the VAT increase. With local risks fading, the rand is now more influenced by global events, like upcoming US jobs and gross domestic product data,' said Cilliers. On Tuesday morning, the local currency was trading at R18.55 at around 10am – a relatively flat rate when compared to a year ago. In between last April and now, South Africa saw the election of the first true coalition government since the dawn of democracy, which bolstered the currency. However, Trump's April 2 'Liberation Day,' when he announced the initial set of tariffs, pushed the rand down to R18.94. It breached the key R19 level to the dollar on April 8.
News24
23-04-2025
- Business
- News24
Inflation cools to 2.7% thanks in part to cheaper fuel
For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page. Annual consumer inflation cooled to 2.7% in March, from 3.2% in February. This was the first inflation decline in five months, and was largely due to lower fuel prices, Statistics SA reported. Average fuel prices are almost 9% cheaper than a year ago and, despite a sharp weakening in the rand, petrol and diesel prices are currently on track for small cuts in the first week of May. South African fuel prices are largely determined by international oil costs and the rand exchange rate, as oil is priced in dollars. Amid trade war turmoil and fears about the DA leaving the government of national unity, the rand fell to almost R19.90 earlier this month. But it has since recovered to trade around R18.55 on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, oil prices have been under pressure amid fears about global demand and too much supply in the market. Smaller hikes in education prices have also helped to cool inflation. Every year, education fee hikes are included in March inflation data. Statistics SA reports that average school fees increased by 5.0% (from 6.6% in 2024), while prices at tertiary education institutions rose 3.7% in 2025, compared with 5.9% a year before. Food inflation cooled slightly to 2.7% in March from 2.8% in February, with a mixed performance from different products: Maize meal continues to see painful hikes, with prices now more than 13% higher than a year ago. This is set to continue over the short term. On Tuesday, maize prices rocketed by 15% in a single day in the spot market as seasonal rains delayed planting by a month, with wet conditions now preventing farmers from harvesting. Coffee and tea prices are also red-hot, with instant coffee (+18,8%) and black tea (+12,8%) much pricier than a year ago. March's inflation number is even further below the Reserve Bank's inflation sweet spot of 4.5%, the midpoint of its inflation target range. Last month, the monetary policy committee (MPC) left interest rates unchanged despite lowering its forecast for inflation for the year to 3.6% from 3.9% previously, and for 2026 from 4.6% to 4.5%.Two out of six of its members favoured a cut of 25 basis points.
News24
23-04-2025
- Business
- News24
Markets, rand stronger as Trump backtracks on Fed attack, China tariffs
For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page. Stock markets were enjoying a much-needed relief rally in Asia on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he had no plans to fire the head of the Federal Reserve, and hinted at lower tariffs for China. The dollar jumped sharply against peer currencies after Trump walked back the threats to dismiss Fed Chair Jerome Powell that had badly shaken investor confidence in US assets, although those gains faded somewhat as the day progressed. The rand continued to strengthen, and traded at R18.55/$ on Wednesday morning - its strongest level in three week. Trump also reiterated he wanted to do a deal with China where tariffs would not be anywhere near 145%, adding that he would set the terms of a deal if Beijing did not enter talks. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was reported earlier on Tuesday saying that he believes there will be a de-escalation in US-China trade tensions, but negotiations with Beijing have not yet started and would be a "slog". "While it is still early days, the mood in the market is evidently shifting and what was a strong 'sell America' vibe flowing through markets yesterday has in part reversed," said Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone. "Markets are becoming ever more conditioned to the President shooting from the hip and then reversing the stance like it was never a big issue." Investors reacted by buying back into beaten-down stocks. Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.7%, while South Korea's main index rose 1.4%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan vaulted 1.9%. Wall Street extended an overnight bounce as S&P 500 futures climbed 1.4% and Nasdaq futures 1.7%. Sentiment had been helped by some upbeat earnings results, and even Tesla rebounded 5% after the bell despite missing forecasts. Part of that was Tesla boss Elon Musk's assertion in a call with analysts that he would significantly reduce his involvement in work at the Department of Government Efficiency from next month to focus more on his many companies. The dollar also recouped a little of its recent steep losses, rising 0.2% on the Japanese yen to 141.77, away from a seven-month low of 139.89. It earlier jumped as much as 1.1%. The dollar rose 0.4% on the Swiss franc to 0.8218, and the euro slipped 0.2% to $1.1399. Longer-dated Treasuries rallied as Trump's reversal on Powell seemed to ease the threat to U.S. monetary and fiscal credibility. Investors have been worried that White House pressure to cut interest rates would risk fuelling inflation just as Trump's tariffs boost prices. Yields on 30-year bonds fell 8 basis points to 4.795%, while two-year yields edged up 1 basis point to 3.820%, flattening the yield curve. Fed fund futures ran into selling as investors scaled back the extent of rate cuts expected by year-end to around 81 basis points. "Thanks again to a meltdown in markets and - one assumes - another intervention from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the damage likely to be incurred if Fed independence is threatened - President Trump has backflipped," said Kyle Rodda, an analyst at "Ultimately, a sustained recovery in risk assets, as well as the U.S. dollar, relies, realistically, on deals being done between the U.S. and its major trading partners, especially China," Rodda said. Tariffs are still seen dragging on the global economy as the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecasts for growth in the United States, China and most countries. Still, the general improvement in risk sentiment helped oil prices recover some of their hefty losses with gains of around 0.9% on Tuesday. Early on Wednesday, Brent rose a further 60 cents to $68.04 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 60 cents to $64.27 per barrel. Safe-haven gold ran into profit-taking and slipped 1.2% to $3 340 an ounce, off an all-time peak of $3 500.
