The South African rand strengthened on Thursday, maintaining recent gains from a rally in gold prices that benefited many emerging market assets.
The rand was trading at 17.09 against the dollar, up approximately 0.3% from Wednesday’s closing value.
Gold prices remained above $4,000 an ounce as investors continued to feel uncertain about the ongoing US government shutdown, which has now entered its ninth day.
Gold is traditionally viewed as a safe-haven asset during times of instability and has recently reached record highs due to economic uncertainty and expectations of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.
The dollar remained largely flat as the government shutdown left traders without access to crucial economic data.
Traders focused on South Africa’s manufacturing output data, which revealed a year-on-year decline of 1.5% in August, after a revised drop of 1.3% in July.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters had anticipated that production growth would slow to just 0.1%. On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top 40 index was up 0.1%.
Additionally, South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond showed stability, with yields falling by 6.5 basis points to 9.025%.
On Friday, 9 October, the rand was trading at R17.20 to the dollar, R22.90 to the pound and R19.91 to the Euro. Oil was trading slightly lower at $64.95 a barrel.
Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa today:
The lawsuit that could collapse banks: A SARS is going after Sasfin Bank for R4.8 billion that SARS can’t recover from the taxpayers, a move that could expose banks to liability for clients’ tax violations, argued lawyer Wim Trengove in court. SARS claims the bank aided 19 companies in unlawfully transferring over R8 billion out of the country without paying taxes. Trengove warned that recognising SARS’ claim would lead to banks facing indefinite liability from all their customers’ creditors if they are held liable for their clients. [Business Day]
Good news for some African nationals living in South Africa: Good news for approximately 180,000 Zimbabwean and 55,000 Lesotho exemption permit holders living and working in South Africa: the validity of their permits has been extended until 28 May 2027. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber announced this 18-month reprieve this week, as the current exemption permits were set to expire on 28 November 2025. [Moneyweb]
Big changes confirmed for South Africa’s inflation target: South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Thursday that the central bank and National Treasury agreed that the country’s inflation target should be lowered, but they were still discussing when to make the change. [Newsday]
Nersa should be shut down: Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt believes that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) should be shut down. He argues that neither Eskom nor Nersa have an idea of what fair electricity prices should be in South Africa, and the only way to get to a sustainable price is to open the market. [MyBroadband]
Bad news for Pick n Pay: Pick n Pay is set to report a loss for the first half of its 2026 financial year, although not as big as initially thought, driven by a strong performance by Boxer and a somewhat improved result at its core supermarkets business. [Daily Investor]
