WATCH: Rand steadies in early morning trade
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JOHANNESBURG – The rand slipped against the US dollar during European trade on Friday according to NKC Research.
The South African currency steadied in early morning trade looking comfortable near the R13.70 level, following a more-dovish undertone by the central bank during its first Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the year. However, a surge of unexpected rand weakness saw the local unit trade sharply lower later in the session. At the close of local trade, the rand quoted 0.5 percent weaker at R13.79/$, after trading in the range of R13.70/$ – R13.84/$. The rand traded slightly weaker this morning. Expected range today R13.70/$ – R13.95/$
South African bourse
The JSE All Share (+0.6 percent) ended higher yesterday led by gains in large consumer goods (+1.5 percent) and mining (+1.1 percent) shares. In the overall emerging market sphere, the MSCI Emerging Market Index (+0.9 percent) traded higher. In local news, Absa (+0.2 percent) announced on Friday that it had formed an alliance with French banking group Société Générale to develop “a pan-African wholesale banking offering”.
Brent crude oil
The Brent oil price traded steady throughout Friday but broke higher thanks to lower Opec crude output and positive noises coming out of Washington regarding the Sino-US trade talks. At the close of local trade, the Brent oil price quoted 0.2 percent lower at $61.75/pb. Crude prices traded higher during Asian trade this morning.
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Source: iol.co.za
