# South Africa's rand falls as risk-off sentiment lifts dollar

> The South African rand fell in early trade to 15.32 per dollar, 0.29% weaker, as investors moved into the dollar after a Wall Street sell-off. The sell-off followed a Federal Reserve policy statement that flagged a slowdown in the pace of the US recovery.

- Date: 2021-01-28 · published 2021-01-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: macro · region South Africa · magnitude low
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/49431-south-africa-s-rand-falls-as-risk-off-sentiment-lifts-dollar
- Commodities: [South African Rand (ZAR per USD)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/USDZAR.md), [US Dollar (Broad)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/DXY.md)

## Why it matters

A weaker rand raises the local cost of imported feed inputs such as corn and soymeal for South African buyers, while risk-off flows tend to support dollar-denominated commodity costs.

## Read by commodity

- DXY: bullish ▲
- USDZAR: bullish ▲

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DXY | 2025-10-21 | [South African rand falls on stronger dollar \| Reuters](https://feedsoft.ai/events/22706-south-african-rand-falls-on-stronger-dollar-reuters.md) | +0.1% | +0.5% |
| DXY | 2024-03-21 | [Dollar gains on risk sentiment, Swiss franc falls on surprise rate cut](https://feedsoft.ai/events/31392-dollar-gains-on-risk-sentiment-swiss-franc-falls-on-surprise-rate-cut.md) | +0.1% | +1.7% |
| DXY | 2023-04-21 | [South African rand weaker as Fed rate bets support dollar \| CNBC Africa](https://feedsoft.ai/events/36686-south-african-rand-weaker-as-fed-rate-bets-support-dollar-cnbc-africa.md) | +0.3% | +0.8% |
| DXY | 2026-03-13 | [Yuan Holds Up As Risk-Off Lifts The Dollar - Finimize](https://feedsoft.ai/events/11471-yuan-holds-up-as-risk-off-lifts-the-dollar-finimize.md) | +0.3% | -0.8% |
| DXY | 2022-09-26 | [South African rand slumps to 28-mth low as dollar reigns supreme](https://feedsoft.ai/events/39843-south-african-rand-slumps-to-28-mth-low-as-dollar-reigns-supreme.md) | +0.2% | +0.6% |

## Sources

- polity.org.za: https://www.polity.org.za/article/south-africas-rand-falls-as-risk-off-sentiment-lifts-dollar-2021-01-28

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.