Africa-Press – South-Africa. JOHANNESBURG – The rand was little changed on Monday although the day’s trading saw the local currency briefly drop below the R14/$ threshold.
The decision by Moody’s Investors Service, to let a scheduled rating announcement come and go without taking any action, would have provided some support as the spectre of another downgrade would have been on investor minds during the lead-up to Friday.
Favourable sentiment would have been compounded by political developments over the weekend, with further signs that the balance of power in both the National Executive Committee and National Working Committee has swung in favour of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
There is again little hard data expected this week, although Thursday will see the release of the March mining production figures.
At close of local trade, the rand quoted 0.14 percent stronger, at R14.04/$, after trading in range of R13.97/$ to R14.12/$. The rand softened slightly overnight. The expected range of the rand against the dollar today is R13.90/$ to R14.20/$.
South African bourse
The JSE All Share (0.21 percent) ended in the red yesterday after technology shares plunged by 3.15 percent during the local trading session. Investors drew direction from US markets with well-known tech behemoths having also sold off sharply. In the overall emerging market sphere, the MSCI Emerging Market Index (-0.16 percent) traded lower.
Brent crude oil
The Brent oil price fell suddenly towards the later part of yesterday’s European trading session as rising Covid-19 case counts in Asia raised fuel demand concerns. At the close of local trade, benchmark Brent crude futures quoted 1.06 percent lower, at $67.98pb. Crude prices struggled to gain during Asian trade this morning.
BUSINESS REPORT
