Rand firms a little as market awaits Donald Trump’s speech

The rand was a little firmer against major global currencies on Tuesday morning, with focus squarely on the US-China trade war, with a speech expected later by US President Donald Trump.

Trump’s address in New York comes amid trade-war uncertainty as a result of his comment on Friday that he had not agreed to roll back tariffs on China, which brought to an end almost a week of risk-on trade prompted by hopes that a partial deal would be finalised soon.

Markets really do seem to be trading as if in limbo, Rand Merchant Bank analyst Siobhan Redford said.

“Every couple of weeks, some hope that a deal is nearby is injected into the market, only to be followed by news of continued friction. This time is no different,” Redford said.

Locally, there are no major releases set for Tuesday, although Eskom said earlier that there would be no load-shedding, despite the grid remaining vulnerable.

At 9am the rand was 0.27% firmer at R14.8445/$, 0.26% stronger at R16.3787/€ and 0.22% up at R19.0891/£. The euro was flat at $1.1034.

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Source: businesslive.co.za