South Africa’s rand weakened early on Wednesday, giving back some of the gains from the previous session as investors pocketed profits from the risk-on rally, while hopes over easing tensions inside the ruling party faded.
At 0645 GMT the rand was 0.32% weaker at 16.7000 per dollar, having rallied to near a one-month best of 16.5600 on Tuesday in a broad emerging market advance driven by a sharp slide in the greenback
“The rand has benefited from signs of the strengthened position of the president as this kindles hopes that the urgent reforms can now finally get underway. The continued (global) risks are likely to limit the potential for ZAR recovery in our view though,” said Elisabeth Andreae of Commerzbank.
On Wednesday the dollar had bounced higher, with data in the world’s no.1 economy showing firmer manufacturing activity, easing some of the fears that the COVID-19 induced decline in global growth might last for longer than initially hoped for.
Locally, nationwide electricity blackouts by state firm Eskom for a second day rekindled concerns about South Africa’s ability to shake-off recession and a fiscal crisis.
