Rand slightly disconnected from other EMs
The rand softened during most of the day, trading in a 15cent range, while other EM’s grinded out small gains. The rand’s performance over the past few weeks has not been the best, and we could expect the rand to remain under pressure with load-shedding pushed back to stage 6 and the upcoming budget speech on Wednesday. We expect little to change overnight, with the US market being closed, and we could see our local market trade slightly more risk-off tomorrow.
The dollar flat for the day
The market has been mostly dull as US markets are out. Today, the euro, pound, and yen firmed slightly against the greenback, while other EM’s continued pushing stronger after Friday afternoon’s rally. The dollar is seen quoted at 1.0690, the pound at 1.2040 while the is trading at 134.
Commodities rebound
Metals have had a good start to the week after PGMs were in for a tough time last week. Palladium bounced from Friday’s low of $1,450 to trade at $1,515 this afternoon. Gold is currently up 0.2%, while platinum and copper are up 1.3% for the day. Brent crude trades at $84.25, firmly wedged in the $80 to $90 range.
#ZAR #EmergingMarkets #ExchangeRateRisk #TreasuryONE
