Prospect of US-China trade deal buoys rand
The rand was firmer on Monday morning, as global risk assets cheered news that the US and China were close to reaching a new deal on trade.
Beijing is offering to lower tariffs and other restrictions on US farm, chemical, car and other products, while the US will lift most, if not all sanctions, imposed on Chinese products, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the two parties were putting the final touches on a deal, with US President Donald Trump expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later in March.
At 9.30am the rand was 0.39% firmer at R14.1601/$, 0.54% stronger at R16.0936 and 0.46% up at R18.7501. The euro was 0.15% weaker at $1.1365 to the euro.
There are a series of local events to give the market direction this week, including fourth-quarter GDP numbers on Tuesday.
The National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) is also expected to pronounce on electricity tariff increases for 2019/2020 on Thursday.
Power utility Eskom is seeking a 15% increase in tariffs from April 1, amid warnings that such an increase will pressure economic sectors that are already under strain.
The main economic release, however, will be US nonfarm payrolls numbers, due on Friday.
Source: businesslive.co.za
