JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand edged lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, losing all the ground gained in response to the finance minister’s budget speech the previous day.
At 1557 GMT, the rand traded at 18.2775 per dollar, 0.14% lower than its previous close.
It had strengthened to 18.1250 on Wednesday after the government said it will take on more than half of state utility Eskom’s debt amid South Africa’s worst power cuts on record.
The rand has been one of the worst-performing emerging market currencies this year.
“Unfortunately, the budget announcement did not offer as much relief to the ZAR as many might’ve hoped,” ETM Analytics said in a research note.
One factor weighing on the currency is that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which sets standards on combating money laundering and illicit financing, could add South Africa to its “grey list” at meetings on Friday, ETM said.
Being added to the FATF list would be a reputational blow to South Africa and could hurt local asset prices, as grey-listed countries are subject to greater monitoring.
Shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange rose, with both the broader all-share index and top-40 index closing up about 1.1%.
The government’s benchmark 2030 bond was stronger, with the yield down 4 basis points at 10.115%.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Alexander Smith)
