daniel chigunwe
South Africa’s rand struggled for momentum against a stronger dollar in early trade last Friday, as a lack of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks weighed on appetite for risky assets.
At 8:30am, the rand traded at R14,63 against the dollar, around 0,2 percent weaker than its previous close.
Even though the uncertainty over the war in Ukraine has impacted the rand, the currency has remained resilient thanks to higher commodity prices that benefit the resource-rich country.
The rand has strengthened almost 9 percent this year.
Investors were looking forward to the March US jobs data, due later in the day, for wage inflation and cues on the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy stance.
“The rand has over the course of the week thus far made a number of forays under the R14,50 technical support level, and on each occasion, the local unit has failed to consolidate these gains,” Nedbank analysts wrote in a note.
“Yesterday, the price action suggested the markets had lost faith in their short USD positions, this ahead of various US data releases today.”
South African-focused investors will also look forward to Moody’s review of the country’s sovereign credit ratings.
Moody’s has South Africa’s long-term foreign-currency rating on Ba2; it has a negative outlook. Its long-term local-currency rating is also at Ba2.
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark 2030 government bond was up 0,3 basis points to 9,63 percent. – Moneyweb
Online Reporter