The rand slumped to its weakest in 18 months on Monday, whereas native shares plunged earlier than staging a restoration as US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and international recession fears rocked monetary markets.
At 12.25pm, the rand traded at R19.31/US$, down 1% from Friday’s shut, after earlier touching its weakest since October 2023.
Trump confirmed no signal of backing away from his tariff plans on Sunday, and buyers worldwide poured into safe-haven currencies just like the yen and Swiss franc on Monday. An rising market inventory index was heading for its largest one-day selloff for the reason that 2008 international monetary disaster.
Native politics additionally weighed on the risk-sensitive rand, which misplaced greater than 3% towards the greenback final week.
The 2 largest events in South Africa’s authorities have clashed over the nationwide price range, and buyers are fearful the pro-business Democratic Alliance might give up or be compelled out of the coalition with the ANC.
“Any removing of the DA from the coalition would have a considerably destructive impact on South Africa’s outlook. It’s the partnership between the ANC and DA that created a way of stability and progress,” mentioned Casey Sprake, economist at Anchor Capital.
On the JSE, the High-40 index slumped 5% in early commerce to strike a nine-and-a-half-month low, earlier than paring losses to commerce down 0.3%. Expertise investor Naspers was down 3.5%, among the many decliners.
‘Disruptive’
“The market is anxious that tariffs might trigger an financial contraction and that they might be disruptive to the worldwide provide chain,” mentioned Roy Topol, portfolio supervisor at Cratos Asset Administration.
Naspers’s fall was partly linked to weaknesses in China, the place its European subsidiary Prosus holds a 24.1% stake in Tencent, analysts mentioned. — Sfundo Parakozov, Nqobile Dludla and Siyanda Mthwethwa, (c) 2025 Reuters
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