The South African rand fell in early trading, Monday morning, affected by the strength of the US dollar, at a time when investors are evaluating the possible policies of the Federal Reserve if Kevin Worsh takes over as Chairman of the Council, while local markets await the release of purchasing managers’ index data for the manufacturing sector and car sales data.
By 07:24 GMT, the rand was trading at 16.222 against the dollar, down by about 0.4 percent compared to Friday’s close.
Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at Treasury One, explained that the rand fell sharply against the stronger dollar, in line with the performance of emerging market currencies and commodity-linked currencies. He added that the local currency, which fell by 2.5 percent on Friday to close at 16.12 rand to the dollar, opened trading today on a weaker note, with gold prices falling by about an additional 5 percent.
The performance of the rand depends largely on global factors, most notably American policies, in addition to local economic indicators. The Absa Bank PMI survey is expected to be released at 09:00 GMT, to shed light on the conditions of the manufacturing sector in South Africa, which witnessed a decline in industry sentiment during December 2025 as a result of lower sub-inventories and employment.
