JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa’s rand weakened on Friday, as the dollar recovered some of its losses following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
At 1615 GMT, the rand was trading at 17.1150, down 0.62% from its previous close.
The dollar’s recovery comes after it hit multi-month lows earlier in the week as the prospect of the Federal Reserve slowing the pace of its interest rate hikes weighed on the safe-haven currency.
This had boosted emerging market currencies such as the rand, albeit briefly, which often takes cues from global drivers such as U.S. monetary policy.
“The rand will remain vulnerable to uncertainty in global financial markets, and so volatile,” Investec analyst Annabel Bishop said in a research note.
Against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index was last up 0.18% to 106.06.
Stocks struggled for direction on Friday, ending the week marginally higher, with investors cautiously monitoring retailers as Black Friday sales began against the backdrop of high inflation and interest rates.
Recent earnings results showed that the sales growth of retailers including Mr Price and Pepkor Holdings, has slowed as consumers focus on essentials.
Investors also watched consumer discretionary stocks, a group whose members range from Naspers to Tsogo Sun Gaming and car dealership Motus for clues on discretionary spending.
“As inflation and interest rates continue to rise sharply, there will likely be less non-discretionary spending and therefore a subdued Black Friday shopping season this year,” said RMB’s Senior retail coverage banker Debbie Law.
The government’s benchmark 2030 bond fell, with the yield up 6.5 basis points to 10.220%.
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian, Bhargav Acharya and Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Kim Coghill, William Maclean)
