WATCH: Rand struggles to gain traction
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JOHANNESBURG – The rand struggled to gain traction during yesterday’s European trading session amid broad greenback strength according to NKC Research.
Markets continue to keep a close eye on US-Sino trade developments for further guidance, with the sentiment bias towards higher-yielding currencies such as the US dollar. Also, recent weak South African economic data and the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming local general elections are clipping the rand’s potential for gains. At close of local trade, the rand was unchanged at R14.20/$, after trading in range of R14.16/$ – R14.24/$. The rand traded weaker overnight after hovering in a tight band yesterday. Expected range today R14.10/$ – R14.40/$.
South African bourse
The JSE All Share (+0.4 percent) ended higher yesterday thanks to gains in large technology (+1.9 percent) and consumer goods (+0.3 percent) shares. In the overall emerging market sphere, the MSCI Emerging Market Index (+0.1 percent) traded higher. In local news, market heavyweight Naspers closed higher at 1.9 percent while MultiChoice (+9.3 percent) also caught the eye.
Brent crude oil
The Brent oil price traded higher yesterday but ran out of steam late in the day, as rinsing US inventories outweighed Opec-led efforts to tighten markets. At close of local trade, benchmark Brent crude futures quoted 0.5% higher at $65.64pb. Crude prices rose overnight.
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Source: iol.co.za