JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand regained some ground on Monday against a weaker U.S. dollar, after a stretch of losses that saw it end last week at its lowest level so far this year.
At 1506 GMT, the rand traded at 18.3925 against the dollar, about 0.2% stronger than its previous close. On Friday, it hit a 2023-low of 18.4850.
The dollar was down around 0.5% against a basket of global currencies, slipping from a seven-week high that had been fuelled by strong U.S. economic data last week.
There were no major South African economic data releases on Monday. Tuesday will see the release of January money supply, trade and budget figures, as well as fourth-quarter unemployment numbers.
The Financial Action Task Force, which sets standards on combating money laundering and illicit financing, added South Africa to its “grey list” on Friday, a knock to the reputation of Africa’s most advanced economy.
But markets appeared to have moved on quickly from the news, analysts said.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed about 0.9% higher and the broader all-share was up 0.75%.
Steinhoff led gainers with shares up over 40% after the retail holding group reported double-digit revenue growth for its quarter ended-December on Friday.
“We do not believe markets will continue to react over negatively due to the grey-listing, especially since a lot of this unwelcome news has already been priced in,” Adriaan Pask, Chief Investment Officer at PSG Wealth said in a note.Â
The South African government’s benchmark 2030 bond was stronger, with the yield down 6.5 basis points to 10.065%.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Nellie Peyton; additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and James Macharia Chege)
