Rand weaker against pound as Brexit stays in spotlight
The rand was weaker against the pound on Monday morning as markets awaited more clarity regarding Brexit.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is asking to extend the October 31 Brexit deadline after MPs voted against Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal on Saturday.
“So far, pound traders are content that a disorderly Brexit will likely be avoided in two weeks. Yet an early general election and maybe another Brexit referendum are on the UK’s political agenda for the coming months,” London Capital Group senior market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.
“Therefore, cable [the pound] could give back its recent gains along with the fading hopes of an imminent Brexit agreement.”
Locally, Eskom eased load-shedding fears on Monday saying there were no power outages expected on the day and that the probability of load-shedding remained low for the week. The power utility implemented load-shedding to as much as stage 2 last week due to high levels of unplanned breakdowns.
“It will not be a surprise should load-shedding be a continued theme for the rest of the summer. This will place more pressure on the SA economy and we can be sure that the rand will feel some effect should the blackouts continue for an extended period,” TreasuryOne senior currency dealer Andre Botha said.
At 10.05am, the rand had weakened 0.17% to R19.1823/£, 0.15% to R14.7953/$ and 0.11% to R16.5177/€. The euro was flat at $1.1165.
Gold was down 0.15% to $1,488.69/oz while platinum added 0.22% to $892.62. Brent crude was flat at $59.32 a barrel.
Source: businesslive.co.za
