The rand rallied against the greenback during European trade on Friday according to NKC Research.
The South African currency recovered some of Thursday’s losses to trade below the R14/$ again following weaker-than-expected US employment figures which weakened the trade-weighted US dollar. A tweet from President Trump that trade negotiations with China were “going well” also allayed some fears that the US-China trade war truce on thin ice, which supports EM sentiment. At the close of local trade, the quoted 0.6 percent stronger at R13.97/$, after trading in the range of R13.93/$ – R14.18/$. The rand traded weaker over the weekend due to concerns over South Africa’s credit rating after Fitch warned about a proposed $7bn bailout for Eskom.
Expected range today R14.00/$ – R14.30/$.
The JSE All Share (+0.5 percent) ended higher on Friday led mainly by gains in large mining (+1.2 percent) shares. In the overall emerging market sphere, the MSCI Emerging Market Index (+0.25 percent) traded higher. In local news, Tiger Brands (-0.5 percent) has been given the greenlight to re-open its polony (bologna sausage) factory in Polokwane following a devastating listeria outbreak earlier in the year.
Brent crude oil
The Brent oil price traded sharply higher on Friday after Opec agreed to remove 1.2 million barrels a day from the market in a bid to drain global fuel inventories. At the close of local trade, the Brent oil price quoted 5.9 percent higher at $63.18/pb. Crude prices paired some gains over the weekend and opened at about $62/pb during Asian trade this morning.
Source: IOL
