JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand extended losses on Wednesday, after tumbling the day before on the back of soaring U.S. Treasury yields.
At 1501 GMT, the rand traded at 19.1275 against the dollar, about 0.24% weaker than its previous close.
The dollar last traded around 0.35% stronger against a basket of global currencies.
On Tuesday, the rand lost nearly 1.7% against the greenback at one point on the back of a surge in U.S. Treasury yields as investors turned away from riskier assets.
“ZAR ‘losses’ this week are really just USD gains,” said Rand Merchant Bank analysts in a research note, adding that continued hawkish Fed talk has kept alive the risk of another hike, strengthening the dollar.
The rand, like other risk-sensitive currencies, is often swayed by global factors like U.S. monetary policy.
South Africa will release producer price inflation, money supply, trade balance and budget figures for August on Thursday and Friday, which will give clues on the health of the economy.
Shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange fell, with the blue-chip Top-40 index closing over 0.7% weaker.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond fell, with the yield up 5.5 basis points to 10.830%.
(Reporting by Tannur Anders with additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Nellie Peyton, Bernadette Baum, Alexandra Hudson)
