South Africa’s rand steadied against the dollar on Monday as fears of a global slowdown kept investors cautious towards the currency, while stocks and bonds ended in positive territory.
The Johannesburg’s top-40 index of blue chips closed 0,63% higher at 19 201,28 points, gaining for a fifth day running. The broader all-share index was up 0,68 % to 21 135,27 points.
The rand traded at 9,85 to the dollar at 5.32pm GMT, compared with a New York close of 9,86 on Friday, but retreating from 9,64 earlier as investors turned their backs on emerging markets.
“It is the sell-off on emerging markets hitting the rand. People are still uncertain and most emerging markets are down,” said a Johannesburg trader.
“We’ll keep our eyes on [global] stocks overnight.”
The Johannesburg’s bourse’s volatility index was down 2,74%, indicating some calm was returning to the market.
The banking index gained 1,67%, led by banking group Nedbank, which rose 3,74% to R97,20 and Standard Bank — up 2,60% to R79.
Turmoil in global markets and fears of a world economic slowdown have kept investors cautious towards high-risk assets such as the rand, although bargain-hunting supported the currency last week.
The rand was last at 12.53 to the euro after hitting a session high of 12.2556 earlier, its strongest level since Oct 14 according to Reuters data.
South Africa’s government bonds also gained. The yield on the 2015 bond fell 14 basis points to 8.955 percent and that on the 2036 issue — 14.5 basis points to 8.225 percent. — Reuters