The Rand is under pressure today due to the lack of liquidity, the US being out of the market, and the protests that we have seen across the country are placing pressure on the local unit. The rest of the emerging market space has also been under pressure, but the rand is leading the way as load-shedding and the cost to the economy is worrying investors. We have seen President Ramaphosa cancel his WEF responsibility to attend to the Eskom crisis.
The rand touched a high of R17.12 against the US dollar but has since retreated back to the R16.95 level. The US dollar also traded stronger against the euro, which did not help the cause of the rand and other EM currencies. The US dollar is trading at 1.0820 against the euro. We need to watch the rand closely as local factors are starting to weigh on the currency, and headline news could see a knee-jerk reaction in the market.
#Eskom #Loadshedding #MarketRisk #EmergingMarkets
