The South African rand strengthened on Monday as progress in US-Iran peace talks boosted broader risk sentiment. The rand traded at 16.40 against the dollar, up 0.2% from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US and Iranian officials reported “encouraging progress” during their first round of talks in Switzerland, which concluded early on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, tensions over Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz persist. The US dollar remained steady against a basket of currencies, while Brent crude oil prices fell by over 2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like other risk-sensitive currencies, the rand has been affected by global market sentiment, especially since the onset of US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Domestically, investors are looking ahead to the composite leading business cycle indicator on Tuesday and producer inflation data on Thursday for insights into the economy’s health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index closed up by 0.2%. Additionally, South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond strengthened, with the yield decreasing by 3.5 basis points to 8.28%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, 23 June 2026, the rand was trading at R16.44 to the dollar, R21.77 to the pound, and R18.78 to the euro. Gold is trading lower at $4,132.24 an ounce, while oil prices were at $77.62 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DStv shutting down two channels:\u00a0<\/strong>MultiChoice will shut down two DStv channels from its M-Net business at the end of the month. DStv informed subscribers on the CineMagic channel that it will close on 30 June, and it also confirmed the closure of the Magic Showcase channel as part of its regular channel line-up reviews. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerns over new property laws:\u00a0<\/strong>Theo Joubert, a member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature and Freedom Front Plus representative, warns that property rights will be insufficiently protected if the Draft Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land (PIE) Amendment Bill is passed. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protest warning for South Africa:<\/strong>\u00a0Fidelity Business Intelligence, a unit of the largest private security company in South Africa, warned of potential severe protests in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng after 30 June, driven by concerns over illegal immigration and job shortages. Authorities fear these could escalate into riots like those in July 2021, which caused significant damage and loss of life. [Business Day<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon Prime Day:<\/strong> Amazon\u2019s flagship annual global Prime Day sale has launched in South Africa for the first time on 23 June, with Prime members having seven days to shop thousands of member-exclusive deals. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n New bank launching in South Africa:<\/strong>\u00a0Revolut aims to launch in the country by 2028 and is already drawing strong interest in its digital banking services from potential customers in the continent\u2019s largest economy. [Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Tuesday, 23 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":861475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-864302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864302","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864303,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864302\/revisions\/864303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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