JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand reversed weeks of underperformance against the dollar on Tuesday, after a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran revived the appetite for investments in emerging markets.
The risk-sensitive local currency has gained ground after falling to a one-month low on Monday as uncertainty over the Middle East conflict hung over markets.
At 1359 GMT, the rand traded at 17.7450 against the dollar, roughly up 0.8% on Monday’s close and paring some of its losses.
The greenback last traded weaker against a basket of currencies, while oil prices hit a two-week low, dragging South Africa’s petrochemical firm Sasol down as much as 14%.
Domestically, data by the South African Reserve Bank showed on Tuesday that the country’s leading business cycle indicator had fallen 0.3% month on month in April.
The indicator collects data on vehicle sales, business confidence, money supply and other factors to gauge the outlook for Africa’s most industrialised economy.
A separate set of data showed that formal employment, which excludes the agricultural sector, fell 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2025.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index last traded up 0.3%.
In fixed income, government bonds also firmed. The yield for debt maturing in 2035 fell 8.5 basis points to 9.975%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov, Alessandro Parodi and Siyanda Mthethwa; Editing by Jamie Freed and Bernadette Baum)
