The rand was little changed against major global currencies on Friday afternoon, with investors cautious as focus shifted once again to issues of international trade. On Friday, the White House formally announced it would impose $50bn in tariffs on Chinese imports in a bid to stop that country’s alleged intellectual property theft. The move is expected to generate an immediate response from China, with US President Donald Trump saying the US would impose further sanctions on China should it retaliate. The political wrangling had clearly unwound some of the dollar’s recent gains, said BK Asset Management MD Boris Schlossberg. Markets were clearly concerned that the ongoing trade dispute would damage international trade and put a damper on economic growth sooner or later. Domestic and international data releases were on the sidelines, with eurozone consumer inflation for May earlier meeting expectations at 1.9% year on year. The labour index within that release, however, showed slight...
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