South African rand drops as dollar jumps on US jobs report

South Africa’s rand dropped sharply against the dollar in Friday afternoon trade in Johannesburg, as a U.S. jobs report boosted the dollar.

The closely-watched non-farm payrolls figures showed U.S. employers added 353,000 jobs in January, beating the 180,000 jobs economists had expected.

The rand was down about 1.1% at 18.8200 to the dollar by 1400 GMT, while the dollar was more than 0.6% stronger against a basket of global currencies .

When there are no major local economic data releases like on Friday, the rand often takes its cue from offshore drivers and dollar moves.

South African data on Thursday included a weak PMI survey for the manufacturing sector and a continued contraction in new vehicle sales, pointing to a sluggish start to 2024 for Africa’s most industrialised economy.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 index (.JTOPI), opens new tab was little changed. The yield on the 2030 government bond rose 7 basis points to 9.775%, reflecting a lower price.

Source: Reuters