Rand bides time before trade data The rand weakened on Friday but stayed within its recent trading range, marking time before the release of volatile TRADE numbers that usually hurt the currency, while surprise monetary easing by the Bank of Japan drove bond yields to year lows. South Africa is running budget and current account deficits, making the rand particularly vulnerable to changes in sentiment by global investors. The expected normalisation of low interest rates in the United States has hit EMERGING MARKET currencies, plunging the rand to five-year lows this early this year. Investors will be keenly watching September TRADEdata at 14:00. The trade shortfall is forecast to have narrowed to R12.15bn, from R16.3bn in August. READ: Trade deficit widens The rand TRADED within the previous sessions range, down 0.2% from its previous close to R10.8900/$. GOVERNMENT BONDS rallied to their best in a year after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly eased monetary policy, calling it a pre-emptive move to stoke inflation. Its purely on that announcement this morning, said Marten Banninga of WWC Securities. Its the expectation of that carry trade scenario which comes into PLAY again. The yield on the 2026 bond dropped 7.5 basis points to 7.835%, levels last seen in October 2013
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 11:26:04 +0000