JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand and government bonds weakened on Friday after President Jacob Zuma fired his respected finance minister from a late-night cabinet reshuffle.
Zuma sacked finance minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle after occasions of speculation that’s rocked the country’s markets and currency, replacing him with home affairs head Malusi Gigaba.
At 0645 GMT, the rand traded at 13.4575 per dollar, 1.34% weaker in the New York close on Thursday.
In fixed income, the yield for any benchmark government bond due in 2026 rose 37 basis points to 8.895%.
Stocks were set to open up higher at 0700 GMT, when using the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index up 0.48%.