South African rand gains as gold prices climb

Gold prices rose more than 1%, supporting the South African rand, which strengthened about 0.6% to 16.32 per dollar despite weaker domestic manufacturing data. The move highlights the rand’s sensitivity to gold because South Africa is a major gold exporter. Broader dollar softness also helped, as the U.S. dollar slipped 0.1% against a basket of currencies. Even though South Africa’s manufacturing output fell 4.3% year-on-year in May after a 2.9% decline in April, mining shares lifted the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Top-40 index 1.1%. Overall, the article points to a positive short-term boost for the rand and South African equities from stronger commodity prices, partially offsetting poor local economic data.