JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand fell sharply after the release of disappointing local mining production numbers and after already being on the back foot for much of Tuesday’s session as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing dented risk sentiment.
At 1429 GMT the rand traded at 17.41 against the dollar, about 0.6% weaker than Monday’s close, while the greenback last traded flat against a basket of currencies.
The U.S. and China on Tuesday began imposing additional port fees on ocean shipping firms, making the high seas the latest battleground in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Like other risk-sensitive currencies, the rand often takes cues from global drivers such as U.S. policy and economic data.
Domestically, Statistics South Africa data showed that the nation’s mining output fell 0.2% year on year in August compared with a revised increase of 5.1% in July.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected production to grow 1.0%, with Nedbank analysts backing a modest 0.7% growth, citing support from a surge in precious metal prices.
On a brighter note, business confidence improved in September, driven by robust tourism, higher precious metal prices and increased exports, a domestic survey showed on Tuesday.
Gold, traditionally seen as a store of value during times of instability, climbed to a record high above $4,100 on Tuesday on increased U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut prospects, with silver also reaching an all-time peak.
On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last down 0.4%.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was also weak, as the yield rose 3.5 basis points to 9.15%.
(Reporting by Anathi Madubela and Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Ros Russell and Alison Williams)
