Rand weakens slightly as election results come in
The rand was slightly weaker on Thursday morning as the country’s national election results started streaming in.
The ANC was in the lead on 54.71% of the vote at 7.30am with 21.15% of the national vote counted. The DA had secured 26.41%.
The rand is expected to experience volatility as votes continue to be counted.
The rand strengthened in overnight trading to 14.30755/$, recovering after slipping to R14.5232/$ this week following anxiety ahead of the elections and the US-China trade debacle.
“We expect some volatility in the rand as the election results become known, with an intraday range of R14.30/$ to R14.48/$,” corporate treasury manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions Bianca Botes said.
Year-on-year mining production figures for March re expected to be released on Thursday, with analysts expecting a slight improvement of -6% compared to February’s year-on-year figure -7.5%, according to Trading Economics.
Year-on-year manufacturing figures are expected to be significantly lower.
Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan said production in both the sectors may have contracted due to a deceleration in global trade growth.
At 10.18am, the rand was down 0.3% to R14.4159/$, 0.23% to R16.1212/€ and 0.23% to R18.7388/£. The euro was flat at $1.1183.
Source: businesslive.co.za
