Rand trading at its strongest R18,07 to the dollar

South African bank notes featuring an image of former South African President Nelson Mandela are displayed at an office in Johannesburg.

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The rand is trading at its strongest level against the dollar, trading as firm as R18,07 this morning. This follows the dollar dropping to a three-month-low on Wednesday as markets grappled with a tariff induced trade war triggered by United States President Donald Trump.

This week, Trump reiterated his stance on tariffs in his first speech to Congress since taking office.

Rand Swiss Portfolio Manager, Viv Govender, says trade movements in the currency markets were volatile as investors grew increasingly anxious about the impact of escalating global trade tensions on the world economy.

“The rand has been reasonably strong against the US dollar over the last little while and this is despite you know, some uncertainty around things like the postponed budget. Initially, when the budget was postponed, we saw the rand weaken sharply, but since then it has basically returned to the level it was before, and in fact, it’s gotten a bit stronger since then. A lot of this is not just due to the rand; it’s also due to the fact that we are seeing a dollar weakness coming through Donald Trump’s tariffs or the uncertainty around Donald Trump regarding his tariff policy has been rather negative not for just the dollar, but also for markets as well,” says Govender.