Ramaphosa fails to rally markets

JOHANNESBURG – THE RAND moved onto the back foot with stocks retreating on Friday after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) failed to rally the markets.

The rand fell to R14.69 to the dollar during early trade after soaring to a one-month high on Thursday when it ground its way to R14.63 against the greenback.

The JSE benchmark index slightly pared gains early on Friday to 65 847 points following Thursday’s close of 65 882 points, as both the mining and general retailers indices were in the red.

TreasuryONE’s currency risk strategist Andre Cilliers said Ramaphosa’s SONA had no impact on the local currency.

“Markets are very much in a holding pattern at the moment with very little big movement anywhere,” Ciliers said.

Source: iol.co.za