Rand rally still on, JSE gains

THE RAND firmed for a third session in a row yesterday as local factors were overshadowed by offshore politics, with chaos around Britain’s exit from the EU boosting demand for emerging currencies.

At 5pm, the rand bid at R14.2680 to the dollar, 1 cent stronger than at the same time on Wednesday, stretching gains after opening trade at R14.35, encouraged first by signs of a cool-off in the Sino-Washington trade spat, and then by political chaos in the UK.

Against the British pound the rand soared to a two-and-half month best after Prime Minister Theresa May battled yesterday to save a draft exit deal with the EU after her Brexit secretary and other ministers quit in protest.

“The main move on the rand came after Theresa May’s Brexit speech last night, and now we’ve come back a little from those highs,” said trader Andre Botha of TreasuryOne.

Bonds were weaker, with the yield on the government’s 10-year paper up 1.5 basis points to 9.18 percent.

Stocks were higher, buoyed by market heavyweight Naspers and gold stocks.

“Volumes traded were quite light and everyone is waiting to see how the Brexit situation will play out,” said Greg Davies, equities trader at Cratos Capital.

The all share index gained 0.28 percent at 52 146.04 points while the Top40 index rose 0.27 percent at 45 929.03 points. I Reuters