JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s rand and stocks gained on Friday as investors turned their attention to the final day of the two-day Group of 20 finance meeting, which South Africa, the first African host nation, hopes to conclude with a formal communique.
A communique would indicate that the G20 finance leaders have reached consensus on at least some key issues.
At 1105 GMT, the rand traded at 17.7050 against the U.S. dollar, up roughly 0.6% on Thursday’s close.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index was last up 1.4%.
The meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will continue on Friday, with tariffs, debt relief and climate resilience being the core topics debated so far.
On the broader agenda, South Africa’s Treasury Director General Duncan Pieterse said the G20 hoped to issue the first communique under the country’s presidency by the end of the meetings.
South African rand steady before retail sales data
Canada’s finance minister Francois-Philippe Champagne also told Reuters he was cautiously optimistic that a final communique would be agreed, but that the G20 of large developed and developing countries needed to send a clear message.
Domestic investor focus next week will be on the country’s May business cycle leading indicator and June consumer inflation data for clues about the health of Africa’s most industrialised economy.
“(Inflation data) is unlikely to do much for the performance of the ZAR, given that the rates markets have already moved to price out the prospect of more than one more rate cut,” ETM Analytics said in a research note.
South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was weaker, as the yield rose 2.5 basis points to 9.985%.
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