JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand regained much of the ground lost earlier in the day in afternoon trade on Monday, as strong commodity prices gave some support to the currency amid concerns about the impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict on inflation and the global economy.
At 1453 GMT, the rand traded at 15.3000 against the dollar, 0.02% stronger than its close on Friday, having sunk as low as 15.4000 in the morning.
South Africa is a rich commodity-exporting country and a rise in prices of precious metals such as gold and palladium has helped limit losses in the currency as the Ukraine-Russia conflict saps investors appetite for riskier assets.
“The foreign exchange markets remain at the mercy of the unfolding geopolitical situation,” Nedbank analysts wrote in a note. “The rand has for much of this scenario remained relatively resilient, although any gains have been limited.”
Fighting in Ukraine intensified over the weekend and attempts at a ceasefire to allow civilians to evacuate from the besieged city of Mariupol seem to have so far failed.
Markets are bracing for the fallout from rising commodity prices, particularly higher inflation which could pressure the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks to quickly tighten monetary policy, just as the world emerges from its pandemic slump.
Palladium, of which Russia is the world’s largest exporter, hit a record high of $3440.76 before falling back to $2904.68 at 1442 GMT, while the safe-haven metal gold was up 0.63% to $1980.50, having earlier breached $2000.
South Africa is a major exporter of both metals.
On the local front, the focus this week will be on gross domestic product data for the fourth quarter of 2021 due on Tuesday, as well as January mining and manufacturing numbers on Thursday.
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark 2030 government bond was up 24.5 basis points to 9.925%, reflecting weaker prices.
The local stock market fell led by a drop in South Africa Inc. stocks, commonly referred to shares of banks, retail and real estate which are dependent on the local economy.
But part of the fall was contained by a surge in share prices of some commodity and resources companies, especially gold miners.
The benchmark all-share index closed down 1.92% to 73,296 points and the blue-chip index of top 40 companies ended down 1.78% to 67,144 points.
The biggest losers among the blue=chip companies were the country’s top five banks with the bank index down over 4%.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Rachel Savage and Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Andrea Ricci)
