South Africa's rand near 2-1/2 year high, stocks ease
South Africa's rand scaled a fresh 2-1/2 year high against a broadly fragile dollar on Friday before easing after the central bank held interest rates steady on Thursday.
At 0715 GMT, the rand was 0.1 percent weaker at 12.145 to the dollar after earlier hitting 12.0725, its best level since June 2015, according to Thomson Reuters' data.
NKC African Economics says in morning note that 12.05 to 12.30 is the rand's expected range for the day.
South Africa's central bank kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 6.75 percent on Thursday, in line with expectations, saying risks to inflation were still on the upside despite the recent strengthening of the rand.
On the political front, markets are monitoring a meeting of the powerful national executive committee of South Africa's ruling African National Congress to see if there will be fresh moves to oust state President Jacob Zuma.
Government bonds are steady, with the yield on benchmark 2026 instrument unchanged at 8.48 percent.
Stocks eased in early trade, with the benchmark Top-40 index shedding 0.3 to 53,838 and the wider All-share index down 0.3 percent to 60,724, with momentum indicators suggesting main indices are near overbought levels. Technical factors are seen weighing on the market.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation