Rand strengthens to 1-week high ahead of Brics

The rand extended gains early on Wednesday to its highest levels in a week after Tuesday’s announcement of fresh Chinese investment into the country.

At 0656 the rand was trading at 13.25, marginally stronger than its close of 13.28 in the previous session.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged to investing $14.7 billion during his state visit to the country ahead of a Brics summit starting today.

“The rand has benefited in the wake of the aforementioned headlines, performing admirably despite the prevailing global uncertainty. Possible headlines from the Brics summit likely to dominate today,” Nedbank analysts said in a note.

Leaders from the Brics group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – will meet for three days in Johannesburg for the 10th annual summit.

In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark paper due in 2026 was down 4.5 basis points to 8.680%.

Stocks were set to open lower at 0700 GMT, with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top 40 Futures index down 0.23%.