Rand loses momentum, JSE takes a knock

THE RAND gave up some of this week’s gains yesterday, trading within a range of R13.30 to R13.54 to the dollar, with analysts saying that breaching the R13.50 mark signalled that the downward momentum had been lost.

TreasuryOne’s senior currency dealer, Andre Botha, said breaking through the R13.50 barrier meant a run to R13.63 to the dollar was not out of the question.

“Local news is starting to have an impact on the rand as we saw the rand spike on the news the unions dismissed Eskom’s latest wage offer,” said Botha.

At 5pm the domestic currency was bid 7c weaker than Tuesday’s same time bid at R13.42 to the dollar. Against the pound, the rand was 7c softer at R17.79 and to the euro, the currency eased 8c to R15.74.

Corporate treasury manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions, Bianca Botes, said the decline in business confidence as revealed by the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry had little effect on the domestic currency as the global landscape remained dominated by a weaker dollar.

“The rand appears to be rangebound after breaking through R13.50 on Friday, and remains on the front foot for now as (US President Donald) Trump threatens to escalate the trade war,” she said.

JSE stocks also took a knock with the blue chip Top40 index giving up 1.45 percent to 51 044.36 points, while the broader all share index declined 1.37 percent to 57 231.01 points.

Among major losers were Assore, which sank 5.18 percent to R287.66 followed by Montauk, down 4.91 percent to R92.

Italtile decreased 4.14 percent to R12.50, while Glencore lost 3.78 percent to R56.05 and Telkom gave up 3.45 percent at R48.75.

Among the top gainers were Tsogo Sun, which rose 2.48 percent to R21.50, followed by Sibanye, which ticked up 1.52 percent to close at R8.04.

MAS Real Estate added 1.42 percent to R20.75, while AECI increased 1.18 percent to R110.50 and Brait also scored 1.18 percent gains to close at R43.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that global stocks fell and metals prices slumped yesterday as US threats of tariffs on an additional $200 billion (R2.6 trillion) worth of Chinese goods pushed the world’s two biggest economies closer to a full-scale trade war.