JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand slid against a buoyant dollar on Wednesday as “Trump trades” surged, after Donald Trump claimed victory in the U.S. presidential election.
At 0851 GMT, the rand traded at 17.5775 against the dollar, down 1.1% on its previous close. It earlier weakened as much as 2.5% against the greenback.
The dollar was set for its biggest one-day rise since March 2020 and was last up 1.5% against a basket of currencies.
Republican Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest after Fox News projected that he had defeated Democrat Kamala Harris, which would cap a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.
Trump appears on the verge of winning after capturing several battleground states.
Trump’s lead has fuelled what’s known as “Trump trades”, said Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE, with markets anticipating a continuation of his policies, which could mean higher growth in the short term but also potentially inflationary pressures.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond also fell, with the yield up 5 basis points to 9.365%.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange the Top-40 index was last down about 0.1%.
(Reporting by Bhargav AcharyaEditing by Alexander Winning)
