The JSE was lifted by rand hedges and precious metals miners on Monday, amid global jitters over recent banking crises abroad, with the rand showing some pressure. This was as the EFF pressed ahead with its planned shutdown, holding a central event at Church Square in Pretoria
The rand was 0.5% weaker at R18.50/$, while at the same time, the Brazilian real and Turkish lira - emerging market peers - were flat, while the Mexican peso had lost 0.6%. "We are seeing risk off trade reflecting in global equity markets which are mostly weaker in early trade today," said IG SA senior market analyst Shaun Murison."Fear around what's happening in US and European banks appears a primary catalyst," he said."The rand is an underperforming currency today and weakening against what has actually been a softer dollar in general," he said.
"Emerging markets had a rough start to the morning due to the banking crisis in other markets, but no measurable weakness in the rand can be attributable to the shutdown," said TreasuryONE currency dealer Andre Botha."The risk premium in the rand is still there as we have seen the rand stuck around the R18.50 mark despite the US dollar weakening," said Botha.