The rand traded weaker against a bullish dollar on Monday, which traded at six-month highs.
By 11.13am the rand was trading at R19.10 against the dollar,0.16% weaker.
The rand had clawed back some lost ground and started the week at R19.09 against the dollar, R20.36 to the euro and R23.65 to the pound.
Bianca Botes, a director at Citadel Global, said in a note on Monday fears around any escalating fallout in the Middle East had eased, providing some room for riskier assets to recover some of their recent losses, while the dollar, oil and gold had retreated.
“It’s a quiet day on the data calendar, with markets anticipating EU consumer confidence data and speak from ECB President, Christine Lagarde. The focus for the week will fall on US PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) and GDP numbers, due later in the week.
Trading Economics said the dollar index eased toward 106 on Monday, but held close to its highest levels in six months as strong US economic data and hawkish commentary from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials cemented expectations that the central bank will delay interest rate cuts, with some analysts saying the Fed may not ease at all this year.
On Friday, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the Fed should hold off on reducing rates as progress in bringing down inflation stalled this year.
Markets now expect the central bank to hold rates steady until September, and see no more than one rate reduction this year.
Investors are looking ahead to US gross domestic product data on Thursday and the Fed-preferred PCE price index report on Friday, for further guidance.
The dollar held near multi-month highs against most major currencies, but hovered 34-year highs versus the Japanese yen.
The JSE index edged up to around 73540 points on Monday, in line with global peers, as easing geopolitical jitters prompted investors to return to riskier assets. Meanwhile, the focus remained on the monetary policy outlook and a fresh batch of corporate earnings set to be released through out the week.
Among single stocks, the top advancers were Alphamin Resources, up over 5%, followed by Naspers, Prosus and Telkom, with gains ranging between 3.2% and 4.3%, Trading Economics said.
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