JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand was little changed on Friday as investors awaited details of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s telephone call with his U.S. counterpart President Donald Trump on bilateral trade.
U.S. imports from South Africa face a 30% duty, the highest rate among Sub-Saharan African countries, but Ramaphosa’s office said on Thursday he had held a telephone call with Trump and that the two countries’ trade negotiating teams will have more detailed talks.
At 1321 GMT the rand traded at 17.72 against the dollar, barely changed from Thursday’s close.
South Africa failed to secure a trade deal with Washington ahead of Trump’s deadline despite months of negotiations.
“One can only hope that SA can tap into its BRICs alliance to help offset the full impact of U.S. tariffs,” said ETM Analytics in a note, referring to a trading bloc consisting of Russia, India, Brazil, China and other emerging nations.
“The irony is that in exerting its global dominance, the U.S. is steadily taking steps to undermine its future influence by encouraging countries and companies to rely less on the U.S., trade away and seek alternative trading partners,” said the note.
Next week’s releases include manufacturing output, mining production, unemployment figures and retail sales data.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index was slightly higher, up 0.1%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was stronger as the yield fell 1.5 basis points to 9.645%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Jan Harvey)
