South Africa’s rand tumbled to its weakest in three months on Thursday as emerging market currencies were hit by a wave of risk aversion as fears about global growth intensified.
At 0650 GMT the rand was 0.6 percent weaker at 14.5550 per dollar, recovering slightly after sliding to 14.8975 in the overnight session, its weakest since October 9.
The rand was on the backfoot following weak factory data from China on Wednesday and saw losses deepen in tandem with a majority of global currencies after Apple said sales in China and other emerging markets fell last quarter.
The news helped trigger a ‘flash crash’ in currency markets, stoking nervousness about global growth already dampened by the ongoing trade wrangle between the United States and China.
Traders said light volumes in a holiday-shortened week had exacerbated the currency slide with stop-losses triggered by the breach of key technical milestones and increased volatility.
Bonds were steady in early trade with the yield on the benchmark 2026 paper at 8.935 percent after climbing 4.5 basis points in the previous session.
Stocks were set to open lower with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 futures index down 0.3 percent, mirroring the sour start in Asian equities.