Rand recovers some lost ground
The rand recovered almost 40c from the high of R18.51 yesterday at a stage today, only to slip back in late afternoon trade. Some good data out of China added the rand’s recovery as there was some position squaring after the valuation of the rand was stretched, but ISM Manufacturing data came out and it showed that prices paid ticked up. This is a concern for the inflation narrative out of the US. The rand was the worst performing currency out of the basket that gets monitored in Feb. Most other emerging markets rallied with the rand with Hungary being the stand-out performer, with the dollar being on the back foot for most of the day, until the ISM data. The rand will need to break below R18.12 for the relief rally to continue.
Rally in treasury yields
The rally up in yields in the US continues as 10Y yields hovering just below 4% and 2Y yields around 4.85%. Gold had a good day and is up around 0.5% at almost $1,840 per ounce. The rest of the precious metals space is also up around 1.5%, with Platinum at $965 and Palladium at $1,450.
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