Johannesburg - South Africa's rand slid more than four percent against the dollar on Thursday, hitting three-week lows as investors concluded a December Federal Reserve interest rate hike remained on the cards following Donald Trump's election as US president.
Stocks rose, riding on the coattails of the firmer greenback and higher commodity prices.
By 15h02 GMT, the rand was down 4.45 percent at 14.0350 per dollar, its weakest since October 21 according to Thomson Reuters data.
“The rand weakness is entirely on the back of the firmer dollar... You're seeing weakness across emerging market currencies,” said chief currency dealer at Treasury One, Wichard Cilliers.
The rand had traded a touch firmer early on as short sellers booked profits after it slid to 1-1/2 week lows on Tuesday in the wake of Trump's unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton, but the local currency eventually succumbed to the dollar's resurgence.
“The dollar's maintaining its strength and that's piling pressure on EMs (emerging markets)... Investors are trying to figure out what Trump's policies are going to look like,” economist at ETM analytics Ricardo da Camara said.
The dollar index was 0.59 percent firmer.
South African government bonds were weaker, with the yield on benchmark government paper due in 2026 adding 19 basis points to 9.02 percent.
Stocks rallied on higher commodity prices globally, with the benchmark JSE Top-40 index rising 1.2 percent, while the broader All-share index was 1 percent higher.
More than 296 million shares changed hands, in line with last year's daily average, according to the bourse's preliminary data.
REUTERS