diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/ConstantFoldingFunctions.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/ConstantFoldingFunctions.java
index 1f606ee4677..36ed9e79d35 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/ConstantFoldingFunctions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/ConstantFoldingFunctions.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 import java.util.function.BiFunction;
 
 public class ConstantFoldingFunctions {
+	static final double EPS = 1e-10;
+
 	public static BiFunction<Number, RewriterStatement, Number> foldingBiFunction(String op, String type) {
 		switch (op) {
 			case "+":
@@ -36,6 +38,15 @@ public static boolean isNeutralElement(Object num, String op) {
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	// TODO: What about NaNs?
+	public static RewriterStatement overwritesLiteral(Number num, String op, final RuleContext ctx) {
+		if (op.equals("*") && Math.abs(num.doubleValue()) < EPS) {
+				return RewriterStatement.literal(ctx, num);
+		}
+
+		return null;
+	}
+
 	public static double foldSumFloat(double num, RewriterStatement next) {
 		return num + next.floatLiteral();
 	}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/RewriterUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/RewriterUtils.java
index af78afd1ecc..cccbbbed683 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/RewriterUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/hops/rewriter/RewriterUtils.java
@@ -1248,7 +1248,6 @@ public static Function<RewriterStatement, RewriterStatement> buildCanonicalFormC
 			}, debug);
 
 			RewriterUtils.mergeArgLists(stmt, ctx);
-			stmt = foldConstants(stmt, ctx);
 			stmt = afterFlattening.apply(stmt, (t, r) -> {
 				if (!debug)
 					return true;
@@ -1352,6 +1351,10 @@ private static RewriterStatement foldNaryReducible(RewriterStatement stmt, final
 				if (argList.size() == 1)
 					return argList.get(0);
 			}
+
+			RewriterStatement overwrite = ConstantFoldingFunctions.overwritesLiteral((Number)argList.get(literals[0]).getLiteral(), stmt.trueInstruction(), ctx);
+			if (overwrite != null)
+				return overwrite;
 		}
 
 		if (literals.length < 2)
@@ -1367,11 +1370,16 @@ private static RewriterStatement foldNaryReducible(RewriterStatement stmt, final
 		for (int literal : literals)
 			val = foldingFunction.apply(val, argList.get(literal));
 
+
+		RewriterStatement overwrite = ConstantFoldingFunctions.overwritesLiteral(val, stmt.trueInstruction(), ctx);
+		if (overwrite != null)
+			return overwrite;
+
 		foldedLiteral.as(val.toString()).ofType(rType).asLiteral(val).consolidate(ctx);
 
 		argList.removeIf(RewriterStatement::isLiteral);
 
-		if (!ConstantFoldingFunctions.isNeutralElement(foldedLiteral.getLiteral(), stmt.trueInstruction()))
+		if (argList.isEmpty() || !ConstantFoldingFunctions.isNeutralElement(foldedLiteral.getLiteral(), stmt.trueInstruction()))
 			argList.add(foldedLiteral);
 
 		if (argList.size() == 1)
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/component/codegen/rewrite/RewriterStreamTests.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/component/codegen/rewrite/RewriterStreamTests.java
index 384a4baa9e7..b56b5b5507e 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/component/codegen/rewrite/RewriterStreamTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/component/codegen/rewrite/RewriterStreamTests.java
@@ -706,4 +706,20 @@ public void testConstantFolding3() {
 
 		assert stmt1.match(RewriterStatement.MatcherContext.exactMatch(ctx, stmt2));
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testConstantFolding4() {
+		RewriterStatement stmt1 = RewriterUtils.parse("*(A, 0)", ctx, "MATRIX:A", "LITERAL_FLOAT:0");
+		RewriterStatement stmt2 = RewriterUtils.parse("rand(nrow(A), ncol(A), 0, 0)", ctx, "MATRIX:A", "LITERAL_FLOAT:0");
+
+		stmt1 = canonicalConverter.apply(stmt1);
+		stmt2 = canonicalConverter.apply(stmt2);
+
+		System.out.println("==========");
+		System.out.println(stmt1.toParsableString(ctx, true));
+		System.out.println("==========");
+		System.out.println(stmt2.toParsableString(ctx, true));
+
+		assert stmt1.match(RewriterStatement.MatcherContext.exactMatch(ctx, stmt2));
+	}
 }