JOHANNESBURG, May 9 (Reuters) – The South African rand was little changed on Friday, as financial markets were firmly focused on U.S.-China trade talks this weekend after a U.S. deal with Britain raised hopes for progress in tariff talks with other countries.
At 1320 GMT the rand traded at 18.2325 against the dollar ZAR=D3, about 0.1% weaker than Thursday’s closing level.
The currency has been on a strong run for the past month, recovering from a record low struck in early April when investors were fretting over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and also over domestic budget disputes.
One factor bolstering the rand has been signs that South Africa’s coalition government will hold after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana scrapped a proposed value-added tax increase that had exposed deep rifts in the coalition.
Godongwana will present a revised budget on May 21, and analysts say the rand remains sensitive to news reports about how the budget will change.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index .JTOPI last traded up 1.1%. The benchmark 2030 government bond ZAR2030= was broadly unchanged, with the yield down 2 basis points to 8.83%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Alexander Winning; Editing by Gareth Jones)
