South Africa's Rand Hits Another Low

South Africa’s rand has weakened early on Monday. The rainbow nations currency slumped to its weakest in almost a week. A fact blamed on the trade tensions between China and the United States.

At 0615 GMT the rand was 0.2 percent weaker and sold at 15.3300 per U.S. dollar compared to a close at 15.3000 per U.S. dollar on Friday in New York.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday heaped an additional 5 percent duty on some 550 billion U.S. dollars in targeted Chinese goods, just hours after China unveiled tariffs on 75 billion U.S. dollars worth of American goods.

The rand has suffered in August, sliding around 12 percent as local pressures linked to the growing chance of a credit downgrade to junk by Moody’s, and uncertainty offshore, have stalled any long bets on the currency.

Africa’s most industrialised economy relies on exports to China and the United States for a bulk of its revenue, and the deepening spat between the two super powers risks denting the country’s already dim economic prospects.

Bonds were also weaker, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 up 4.5 basis points to 8.32 percent.