SA rand flat

JOHANNESBURG. — The rand was flat yesterday morning with market expectation that the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPD) will keep rates on hold.

Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago will deliver his bimonthly speech shortly after 3pm. Consensus is that the repo rate will be kept at 7 percent.

The rand made good ground on Wednesday after Statistics SA reported the consumer price index (CPI) for April came in at 5,3 percent year on year, down from 6,1 percent in March. The market had expected inflation to moderate to between 5,4 percent and 5,6 percent.

Investec Economist Kamilla Kaplan said much of the deviation between consensus expectations and the actual headline CPI outcome could be accounted for by food price developments. Kaplan said the inflation trajectory showed a return to the Reserve Bank’s target range of 3 percent to 6 percent in 2017, on softer food price growth and a continued absence of meaningful demand-led inflation.

Strength in the rand also came from rumours the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) at its meeting this weekend will discuss possible ways to remove President Jacob Zuma from his position as president of the country. At 9.20am the rand was at 12,8845 to the dollar from Wednesday’s 12,8957‚ at 14,4575 to the euro from 14,4618‚ and at 16,7255 to the pound from 16,7098. — BDLive.