JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand weakened in early trade on Monday, struggling to make significant gains despite strong commodity prices, as concerns about the impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict on inflation and a global economic recovery weighed.
At 0630 GMT, the rand traded at 15.4000 against the dollar, 0.64% weaker than its close on Friday.
South Africa is a rich commodity-exporting country and a rise in prices of precious metals such as gold and platinum has helped limit losses in the currency as the Ukraine-Russia conflict saps investors appetite for riskier assets.
"The foreign exchange markets remain at the mercy of the unfolding geopolitical situation," Nedbank analysts wrote in a note. "The rand has for much of this scenario remained relatively resilient, although any gains have been limited and not sustained."
Fighting in Ukraine intensified over the weekend and attempts at a ceasefire to allow civilians to evacuate from the besieged city of Mariupol seem to have so far failed.
Markets are bracing for the fallout from rising commodity prices, particularly higher inflation which could pressure the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to quickly tighten monetary policy, just as the world emerges from its pandemic slump.
On the local front, the focus this week will be on gross domestic product data for the fourth quarter of 2021 due on Tuesday, as well as January mining and manufacturing numbers on Thursday.
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark 2030 government bond was up 3.5 basis points to 9.715%, reflecting weaker prices.
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