JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand opened weaker against the dollar on Friday, but had regained some ground lost in the previous session as US President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium stalled the greenback's recent recovery.
At 0640 GMT the rand was 0.27 percent weaker at 11.8800 per dollar, a touch better than Thursday's slide to a 2-week worst of 11.9450 triggered by bets the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rates at least four times in 2018.
Trump's tariff plan sparked fears of an imminent trade war and worries about its potentially negative impact on the world's largest economy, dragging the dollar back from six-week highs.
With no data releases locally and mid-tier data releases offshore, traders are set to eye the 11.90 technical resistance level as an indicator of momentum.
Stocks were set to open softer with the benchmark Top-40 futures index down 0.5 percent.
Bonds were also softer, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 up half a basis point to 8.14 percent.
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