RAND RALLY CONTINUES, JSE FALLS

THE RAND strengthened against the dollar yesterday, adding to strong gains last week as dovish comments by the Federal Reserve chair hurt the US currency.

At 5pm, the rand bid at R13.8704 to the dollar, 9 cents firmer than Friday’s close, after earlier striking a session best of R13.8325.

The rand fell more than 14 percent in 2018, partly weakened by US interest rate hikes which boosted the dollar, but it is up 3.5 percent since the start of 2019.

“The rand’s gains are mostly a weaker dollar story,” said Gerrit van Rooyen, economist at NKC African Economics.

Fed chairperson Jerome Powell said late last week that the US central bank would be sensitive to the downside risks that markets are pricing in, bolstering expectations of a slowdown in the pace of US interest rate increases.

South Africa-focused investors will scrutinise manufacturing data due later in the week for clues about the health of the economy.

On the stock market, shares ended lower, led by cigarette giant British American Tobacco following a broker downgrade of the stock.

The company’s stock lost 5.33 percent to R439.

Overall, the bluechip JSE Top40 index fell 0.61 percent at 45 876.36 points and the broader all share index lost 0.47 percent to 51 959.3 points.