STOCKS AND MARKETS:

WEAKER DOLLAR LIFTS RAND

THE RAND firmed in afternoon trade on Friday thanks to a weakening US dollar, but the local currency was on track to end the week on a weaker footing after a row over the central bank’s mandate rattled investors, while stocks also gained.

At 5pm, the rand was around 0.58 percent stronger at R14.9075 to the dollar, as the greenback fell on weak US jobs data that boosted expectations the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this year.

But the recovery was not strong enough to erase huge losses suffered in the week, after a public spat among senior ANC officials over the Reserve Bank’s mandate added to the bad news of a contraction in the economy.

The currency had weakened to a session low of R15.1750 earlier on Friday, its weakest since September 2019, bringing losses since Monday to 5 percent.

Data on Tuesday showed first-quarter growth contracted 3.2 percent, the most in a decade, almost immediately followed by the ANC’s announcement that it wanted the bank to consider quantitative easing to lower government debts, sending the rand crashing.

In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond was down 1.5 basis points at 8.455 percent.

On the bourse, stocks closed stronger with the broader all share index up 1.77 percent at 58 099.84 points, while the Top40 index rose 1.94 percent to 51 976.89 points.

Petrochemicals company Sasol topped the blue chips and gained 3.57 percent to R379.45. I Reuters