Rand softer as dollar bounces back

THE RAND weakened yesterday, pressured by a fir mer dollar and underperforming emerging market peers as speculation that President Jacob Zuma may axe his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa weighed on sentiment.

At 5pm, the rand bid at R13.6959 to the dollar, 16.73c softer than at the same time on Thursday, extending losses and breaking through the 13.60 support level as renewed bets of fiscal stimulus in the US saw a return of dollar bulls.

Answering questions in parliament on Thursday about whether he may be sacked, Ramaphosa, a frontrunner in a December ANC leadership contest, said he couldn’t speculate on rumours.

Political analyst Daniel Silke said that if Ramaphosa were fired, it would be viewed dimly by investors.

Bonds also weakened, with the benchmark paper due in 2026 up 4.5 basis points to 8.84 percent.

Meanwhile, stocks were largely flat, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top40 index up 0.15 percent to 51 600.66 points and the wider all share index up 0.09 percent at 57 948.66 points. – Reuters