JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s rand slipped to a one-week low against the dollar on Wednesday, hurt by a combination of a firmer dollar, higher-than-expected inflation print and negative sentiment spurred by recent cabinet changes.
Stocks posted modest gains with rand-hedged companies benefiting from the weaker currency.
At 1519 GMT, the rand traded at 13.5775 per dollar, 1.3 percent weaker than its close on Tuesday and trading at its weakest levels since Oct. 11.
“The stronger dollar is hurting most emerging market currencies,” Rand Merchant Bank currency trader Jan Sluis-Cremer said. “Inflation also printed marginally higher than forecasts, and yesterday’s cabinet changes have added to the weaker rand.”
South African headline consumer inflation quickened to 5.1 percent year-on-year in September.
In a list of 16 emerging market currencies tracked by Reuters, the rand was by far the worst performer, followed by the Mexican peso and Brazil’s real.
President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday reshuffled his cabinet for a second time in seven months, rattling the rand and government bonds.
Zuma is unpopular with many investors after sacking respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March, a move that hit South African financial assets and helped tip the country’s credit ratings into “junk” territory.
In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond rose 3 basis points to 8.77 percent.
On the stock market, the benchmark Top-40 index was up 0.46 percent at 51,747 points, while the broader All-share index climbed 0.47 percent to 58,152 points.
Rand hedges, shares of companies with operations abroad that make the bulk of their revenue outside South Africa and tend to benefit from a weaker rand, lifted the bourse.
Britain-based property company Capital & Counties was up 4.35 percent to 48.48 rand, while Luxury goods maker Richemont closed 1.80 percent higher to 123.20 rand.
Johannesburg-listed Steinhoff gained 1.25 percent to 60.75 rand.
Source: Brecorder.com
