Rand Report | US Dollar provid

Rand Report | US Dollar provides momentary relief

Rand performance received mixed reactions last week, especially performing against the US Dollar

Rand Report | US Dollar provid

The Rand weakened against the US Dollar last week after three consecutive days of strength earlier on in the week, closing at USD-ZAR 11.07 on Thursday – compared with Wednesday’s close of USD-ZAR 11.04. Rand weakness against the greenback occurred into a mixed performance from the Dollar against the major crosses and EM currencies but into a weaker performance among all of the commodity currencies we monitor for purposes of this report.

The Dollar strengthened against the Euro and the Pound, while weakening against the Yen. The Rand depreciated against the Dollar and the Yen, while strengthening against the Euro and the Pound.

The Rand was the most resilient commodity currency towards the end of the week. Four of the nine EM currencies we monitor – namely the INR, IDR, THB and RUB – appreciated on the day; the remaining five – namely the HUF, ZAR, TRY, MXN and BRL – depreciated.

The Rand occupied the middle to lower position in the EM currencies category and traded between a low of USD-ZAR 10.9628 and a high of USD-ZAR 11.0960.

Commodity price moves were mixed. Copper and gold rose by 1.2 percent, and 0.3 percent respectively. Brent and platinum meanwhile fell by 1.5 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

Non-residents were aggressive net buyers of local equities (ZAR 1,510 million) and were net buyers of local bonds (ZAR 559 million) at the end of last week.

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