RAND WEAKER ON TENSIONS

THE RAND weakened yesterday as risk demand in global markets was soured by an escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan, prompting investors to flee into safe haven assets.

At 5pm, the rand bid at R13.9093 to the dollar, 4 cents softer than at the same time on Tuesday.

Nuclear powers India and Pakistan claimed that they shot down each other’s fighter jets, with Pakistan capturing an Indian pilot a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a 1971 war.

The dollar gained from risk aversion and recovered from three-week lows, while traditional safe havens such as the Swiss franc and Japan’s yen as well as gold also rose.

Bonds edged weaker, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 adding 1 basis point to 8.67 percent.

In the equities market, Tradehold helped lift stocks, topping the bourse after it said it had been approached by a private property investor to invest R833 million directly into its portfolio of South African property assets and R200m into Tradehold.

Tradehold jumped 13.19 percent to R11.50, its biggest daily gain in sevenand-a-half weeks.

The all share index inched up 0.1 percent to 56 297.95 points, while the Top40 index was 0.02 percent lower at 49 955.05 points.

MultiChoice gained 16 percent on its JSE debut earlier, and closed 11.01 percent higher at R106.01. I Reuters