South Africa's rand steadies after tumbling on violent protests

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand steadied in early trade on Tuesday after falling more than 2% in the previous session amid an outbreak of violence and looting after the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.

At 0611 GMT, the rand traded at 14.4000 against the dollar, not far off its previous close of 14.4050.

South Africa deployed soldiers on the streets on Monday to quell violence after Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court during an investigation into high-level corruption.

South Africa's rand rises as dollar slips

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday evening the looting of shopping centres and pharmacies and the disruption of supply chains could lead to food and medicine shortages and also disrupt the coronavirus vaccination drive.

"The markets apparently found some degree of comfort in the deployment of the military to assist the police in controlling the situation," analysts at Nedbank wrote in a note.

The global focus was on U.S. inflation data due later on Tuesday, they added.

The inflation data could offer clues about the timing of tapering and rate hikes. The possibility of hikes - brought to the fore by a surprise shift in tone last month from the Federal Reserve - has boosted the dollar in recent weeks as investors have re-assessed their assumption of prolonged low U.S. rates.