JOHANNESBURG, August 4(Reuters) -South Africa’s commodity-backed currency edged up on Monday, helped by higher gold prices, as investors digested last week’s unexpectedly weak U.S. jobs data and awaited tariff updates ahead of the United States’ August 8 deadline.
At 1502 GMT the rand traded at 17.96 against the U.S. dollar, about 0.3% firmer than Friday’s close.
South Africa is a major producer of precious metals and benefits from higher gold prices. They rose for a third straight session on Monday after U.S. jobs data fueled expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Gold prices tend to be inversely related to interest rates.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index was last up 1.7% and the wider All-Share index climbed 1.4%.
The bourse was boosted by South African miners, including Gold Fields, up 8%, AngloGold Ashanti, at 6%, and Harmony Gold, which rose 7%.
For South Africa, this week’s major focus is whether it can negotiate a better trade pact. For now, it faces a 30% duty on goods exported to the U.S., the highest rate among Sub-Saharan African countries.
“Our foremost priority is protecting our export industries. We will continue to engage the U.S. in an attempt to preserve market access for our products,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a newsletter on Monday.
“We will in due course be announcing the modalities of a support package for companies, producers and workers that have been rendered vulnerable by the U.S. tariffs,” Ramaphosa said.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was unchanged, with the yield at 9.625%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Barbara Lewis)
