Rand hit by unexpectedly steep GDP decline

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand weakened early on Tuesday, giving back most of its gains from the previous session, ahead of the release of domestic data that is expected to show the economy had slipped into a recession.
At 08:30 the rand was 0.75% weaker at 15.500 per dollar, retreating from a session-best 15.385 on Monday, as emerging markets rallied on the world’s biggest central banks hinting at cutting lending rates.
The Chinese, Japanese and U.S. central banks have all indicated willingness to take monetary measures to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak, renewing flows into high-yielding emerging assets.

Source: iol.co.za