Rand firms to R15.33/$ on positive sentiment over Biden’s victory

JOHANNESBURG – The rand rallied to yet another best performance in months yesterday as financial markets welcomed the possibility of a new Covid-19 vaccine and the near clean sweep of the Democrats in the US elections.

The rand rose 0.43 percent and reached R15.33 against the dollar as market sentiment was boosted by Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, with both the House and presidency under the control of the Democrats and almost a tie with the Republicans in the Senate.

Stocks were also enjoying their best week since April, with the FTSE/JSE All Share Index surging 1.63 percent to close at 57 307 points and the Top40 Index 1.56 percent up at 52 684 points.

Banking stocks led the charge at the JSE, rising 8.89 percent to 6 141 points, followed by general retailers, which were 3.57 percent stronger at 4 390 points.

FirstRand surged 12.32 percent to R44.75, Nedbank 9.77 percent to R118, Standard Bank 7.34 percent to R120, while Absa was 7.2 percent higher at R98.73 per share.