Sa rand
Rand firms on easing trade tensions, equities down
At 1510 GMT the rand was 0.67% firmer at 15.1975 against the dollar.
The dollar weakened as traders focused on weaker aspects of the April US payrolls report.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady and signalled little appetite to adjust them any time soon.
Investors’ appetite for riskier currencies was boosted on Friday after Chinese data showed exports rebounded last month.
Caution prevailed among investors as Eskom said it would continue implementing power cuts on a rotational basis as it struggles with generating capacity shortages.
Analysts expect the rand to remain volatile as it reacts to global factors and concerns over the domestic economy.
At 15:05 GMT the rand was trading at 14.4050 per dollar, 0.42% weaker than its New York close of 14.3450 on Tuesday.
At 15:20 GMT the rand was 0.77% weaker at 14.0425 against the US dollar.
The rand rose 0.37% to 13.9675 to the dollar by 16:07 GMT compared with the previous day’s close of 14.0200 in New York.
Stocks saw their largest single-day drop since August, as risk aversion globally weighed on the local market.
South Africa’s trade deficit swung to R3.49 billion surplus in November from a revised R4.28 billion deficit in October, official data showed on Friday.
The rand gained on Thursday against a dollar weakened by lingering concerns about the trade wrangle between the United States and China.
The dollar gained as weak economic data in China encouraged investors into the perceived safety of the US currency.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady but struck an expectedly hawkish tone that fed into some dollar gains and put emerging market currencies under pressure.
The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to maintain the hawkish language seen in recent policy statements while keeping interest rates unchanged this time.
Investors are bracing for a split Congress, with Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives and Republicans holding their advantage in the Senate.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni predicted wider budget deficits and cut growth forecasts in his medium-term budget on Wednesday.
Investors remained skittish as Africa’s most industrialised economy struggles with ballooning debt that risks pushing its sovereign credit ratings deeper into ‘junk’ territory.
The focus now turns to Wednesday’s budget speech by new Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and the September CPI data.