{"id":850348,"date":"2026-02-09T15:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=850348"},"modified":"2026-02-09T15:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:57:06","slug":"major-rebound-for-the-rand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/850348\/major-rebound-for-the-rand\/","title":{"rendered":"Major rebound for the rand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African rand has shaken off some of the weakness that gathered last week, rebounding to back below R16.00 to the dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand retreated last week, hitting over R16.40\/$ as the US dollar appreciated amid risk-off investor sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was primarily driven by US President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the incoming Fed Chair for May 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the JSE weakened, and the gold price fell from $5,505\/oz to $4,632\/oz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Investec Chief Economist Annabel Bishop, markets corrected sharply on news of the Fed replacement, but have since recovered\u2014largely on profit-taking and a return of risk appetite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The US dollar has weakened as a consequence, as some safe-haven flows reversed back into risk assets,” she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The macro-economic outlook for global and US growth is still optimistic, and a market crash is not warranted overall from this perspective.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The start of the new week has seen the impact of this, bringing renewed strength to the rand. The gold price is also back over $5,000 an ounce, with the JSE getting a boost as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand is not only gaining against the dollar but also against other currencies, showing broad strength, not just due to dollar weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand has risen by 15.1% y\/y against the US dollar to date in 2026, and is 1.4% y\/y stronger against the euro for the year to date as well, and has climbed 5.2% y\/y against the pound and 8.8% y\/y against the yuan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Overall, the rand has gained 2.7% on a trade-weighted basis\u2014against the currencies of all the major countries it trades with\u2014since the start of the year, and on average is up 7.8% y\/y for the same period in 2025,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investor risk appetite rose to all-time highs up until just before the end of January as optimism built for all major asset classes, Bishop said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equities are seen as leading in 2026, followed by commodities, she added, citing the S&P Global Investment Manager Index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S&P noted that sentiment for global equities in 2026 is showing levels of buoyancy not seen since April 2021, “with bullishness toward commodities now the highest since April 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSentiment has also edged back into bullish territory for both corporate and sovereign debt,” the group said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe lower interest rate and improved fiscal policy environments are also contributing to the brighter mood among fund managers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrol prices are suffering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the bullish environment is benefiting the rand, markets are not without their pressure points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oil price, for example, has risen to over $68 a barrel this month, up from $66. The rise in oil has been lifted by the same positive market sentiment, as well as an improved global economic outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has boosted demand forecasts, even amid the supply glut projected for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishop warned that the rise in oil prices is eroding the rand’s gains, especially for local fuel prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“(There is) only a 13c\/litre cut in the petrol price now signalled for March, down from a 22c\/litre signalled earlier last week, and a 32c\/litre cut signalled at the start of the month,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the trend continues, petrol price recoveries may ultimately swing into negative territory, and motorists may face a hike in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African rand has shaken off some of the weakness that gathered last week, rebounding to back below R16.00 to the dollar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":747568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[19853,1498,3670],"class_list":["post-850348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-annabel-bishop","tag-investec","tag-rand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850353,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850348\/revisions\/850353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}