By Reuters
The South African rand neared an all-time low against the dollar in early trade on Wednesday, bruised by global risk aversion linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and uncertainty over the future of the country’s ruling coalition.
The rand fell as low as 19.8225 to the dollar, not far from the weakest it has ever traded at 19.9075 in June 2023 .
By 0655 GMT, it had recovered some ground to reach 19.73, up 0.2% on the day, but it is still down over 3% so far this week.
The South African currency is highly susceptible to shifts in financial market sentiment, which has soured badly over Trump’s tariff war. U.S. tariffs on dozens of countries kicked in on Wednesday, while China was hit with 104% duties.
Another important factor behind the rand’s recent slide is local politics.
The two biggest parties in the broad coalition government have disagreed sharply
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