The South African rand continued to decline sharply against major currencies, as recession fears gripped global markets, amid an intensified trade war as China announced retaliation measures against US tariffs.

The rand hit R19.40 to the US dollar on Monday, extending its decline in the wake of Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs that were announced last week.

The rand was trading at around R19,58 at the close of business on Monday.

The local currency has declined by over R1 to the dollar in the space of a week, falling by 6% since March 31. It has lost 4.75% of its value to the greenback since the US President's 'Liberation Day' announcements on Wednesday, April 2.

The rand has lost 6.4% to the euro since April 2, trading at R21.28 on Monday morning.

Should the local currency remain at current levels or depreciate further, it will create inflationary pressures, although fuel price pressure could be negated by falling international oil prices, with Brent Crude oil having retreated sharply to $65.50.

On the markets, the JSE All-Share Index was down 1.83% to 80,058 on Monday, having plummeted by 5.26% on Friday.

According to AFP, trillions of dollars have been wiped off stock markets worldwide, and Asian equities declined further on Monday ahead of the much-anticipated opening of US markets.

In Japan, the Nikkei fell by almost 8% in early trade, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged almost 10% and the Shanghai composite more than 4%.

Global recession fears have been further stoked by China's announcement that it planned to implement retaliatory tariffs of 34% on all US goods from April 10.

"(This) is blunt-force economic warfare," said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.

"The market's telling you in plain language: global demand is vanishing, and a global recession is on the cards and coming on fast," Innes added.

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South African rand plunges as recession fears escalate amid trade war