MARKETS WRAP

RAND UP ON CHINA’S EXPORT DATA

THE RAND jumped yesterday as weak business confidence data was outweighed by big surprise move up in China’s April exports that also helped its commodity currency peers.

At 6pm, rand was 1.09 percent stronger against the dollar at R18.5161.

The market mood stabilised globally as Beijing reported a 3.5 percent rise in April exports, confounding market expectations of a sharp fall, as factories restarted output after the coronavirus pandemic, raising hopes of an economic recovery.

Investec economist Annabel Bishop said in a note that the small bounce back of commodity currencies like the rand had so far been driven by some improving market sentiment, with further strengthening likely this year.

Stocks climbed to a one-week high, pulled up by miner Anglo American and the unexpected rise in Chinese exports.

The JSE-listed diversified miner rose 4.15 percent to R334.43 alongside its London-listed parent firm, providing the biggest boost to the Top40 index, after Credit Suisse upgraded it to “outperform” from “neutral”, and raised its price target.

The firm also pleased investors worried about miners’ exposure to fossil fuel after it said yesterday it preferred unbundling and listing its thermal coal operations in South Africa in the next two to three years over other options for exiting the business.

Its shares helped the mining index rise 0.89 percent.

The all share index rose 0.38 percent to 50019.7 points, while the Top40 index closed 0.31 percent firmer at 46096.03 points.

Bonds continued to rally, with the yield on the government issue due in 2030 down 2.5 basis points to 9.42 percent. I Reuters