This past week we saw the ZAR continue to gain against all major currencies. Contrary to many people’s expectations, the 2017 Budget Speech added further momentum to the Rand rally, even though it didn’t provide much good news for South Africans.

The Rand is one of the best performing currencies of 2017. It continued its trend of growth last week, on the back of decreases in the unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2016 as well as the year-on-year inflation rate in January.

Last week ended off with a rather chaotic State of the Nation Address by President Jacob Zuma. The evening was quite a fiasco, with major opposition parties, the EFF and DA, being removed from the chamber and walking out of the event.

The Rand experienced a good week after favourable trade data. Stats SA revealed that there was a R12 billion trade surplus for the month of December, beating the R6 billion figure that analysts had forecast. This came as a relief after November’s disappointing R-1.7 billion deficit.

At the start of last week, the general mood in the markets appeared to be positive.

After a turbulent 2016, amidst local political stressors and threatened ratings downgrades, the Rand has seen relatively large gains against the Pound and the US Dollar since the start of 2017.

The Rand has made some solid gains this week, largely off a weakening Pound and a stalling Dollar. It remains to be seen what will happen in international markets ahead of Trump’s inauguration this week.

It’s been a relatively quiet start to 2017 in currency markets. Despite this, the Rand has enjoyed a good run against both the Dollar and the Pound, with the latter having a hard time of it of late.

The South African Rand has had a stellar 2016. After gaining ground against most major currencies, it looks set to end the year in a better position than when it started.

We walk into the new week with South Africa having sidestepped a ratings downgrade to junk last week. As a result, the Rand has strengthen just over 2% to the US Dollar.

The week started off with some bullish comments from Deputy President Ramaphosa, who spoke about SA avoiding junk status, in an attempt to spin South Africa’s developments positively.

Last week saw a poor performance from the Rand against both the USD and GBP. In other pairings, the ZAR was often on the weaker side of the exchange rate.

It’s been a tough week for the Rand. Donald Trump’s victory in the US elections has emerging market currencies reeling.

Last week was a good week for the Rand. The withdrawal of charges by the NPA against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan saw the Rand strengthen against all major currencies.

The past week has seen the ZAR recover its losses after news of Pravin Gordhan’s summons for fraud caused unrest in the market place two weeks ago. The Rand reached a low of 16.95 against the Pound and a low of 13.82 to the USD during the course of the week.

Last week’s big news revolved around the fraud charges brought against Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan. The Rand has been extremely volatile as Gordhan and his opponents traded blows throughout the week and into the weekend.

Last week ended off with a bombshell for the GBP, with the currency losing 6.1% against the USD in just two minutes. With the Pound at its lowest level in 31 years, many South Africans have been buying as much of the English currency as they can.

The South African Rand opened last week on a solid footing with the SARB hinting that it might not hike interest rates further this year.

The Rand appreciated against all the major currencies last week, making the most gains of all emerging currencies. This was largely as a result of traders awaiting the US Fed’s rate announcement.

The Rand began last week on a weak note, opening at 19.16 to Pound and 14.52 to the US Dollar last Monday. This weakness was short lived and the Rand strengthened dramatically.

It was a week of ups and downs for the South African Rand. The release of good economic data offset some of the losses incurred over the last two weeks.

The South African Rand took a beating last week as political infighting and wild statements from cabinet ministers and politicians turned investors sour on the economy’s prospects.

Last week was characterised by the ZAR weakening against the Pound. The Rand hit a high of 17.82, from a low of 17.07. The decrease in value of the Pound, the British Tourism industry saw an increase of visitors to the UK. This gave the Pound strength once again.

The overall mood in the markets at the start of the week appeared to be positive as the influx of money into developing-market assets served to pull the Rand even higher. Strong jobs data in the US further lowered hopes for any interest rate hikes in the world’s biggest economies, fuelling a rush in demand for emerging market currencies.

The 14.00 USD-ZAR mark has finally been broken. The Rand reached an eight-month high on Friday on the back of some weak US GDP numbers and the fourth consecutive monthly trade surplus in the Republic.