(Reuters) -South Africa’s rand rose on Monday after the dollar retreated from its latest 20-year high, scaled after hawkish comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week.
At 1529 GMT, the rand traded at 16.8350 against the dollar, 0.37% stronger than its previous close. The rand had fallen to 17.0025 earlier in the day.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was last down at 108.81, after earlier hitting a two-decade peak of 109.48.
The Fed would raise rates as high as needed, and would keep them there “for some time” to bring down soaring inflation, Powell told the Jackson Hole central banking conference in Wyoming on Friday.
Rising interest rates in the developed world make high-yielding but riskier emerging market currencies such as the rand lose their appeal to investors.
In the stock market, the Top-40 index closed down 1.51%, while the broader all-share ended 1.38% lower, mirroring the slump in global equities fuelled by global recession fears.
However, retailer Massmart Holdings Ltd had a bumper day and closed nearly 45% higher, after U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc launched a 6.4 billion rand ($380.05 million) offer for the remaining 47% of the South African company it did not already own, a move welcomed by analysts.
“Massmart is not going to keep its head above water much longer without any further assistance in the form of liquidity from shareholders,” Gryphon Asset Management portfolio manager Casparus Treurnicht said.
The government’s benchmark 2030 bond fell, with the yield up 5.5 basis points to 10.245%.
($1 = 16.8401 rand)
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian in Gdansk, Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Tomasz Janowski)
