JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand fell on Thursday, weighed down by risk-off sentiment as the Israel-Iran conflict continued into a seventh day.
At 1415 GMT, the rand traded at 18.07 against the U.S.
dollar, down roughly 0.3% on Wednesday’s close and near its lowest level in a month.
This was in line with declines in emerging market peer currencies as investors fled to safe-haven assets while weighing the possibility of U.S.
involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict.
Domestically, six large banks passed an inaugural climate-risk stress test by South Africa’s central bank on the resilience of the country’s financial system.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index last traded down 0.3%.
Petrochemical firm Sasol was up over 4% as the conflict in the Middle East continued to push up global oil prices.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was marginally weaker, with the yield rising 1 basis point to 10.13%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Alessandro Parodi;Editing by Alexander Winning and Ed Osmond)
