Rand firms in early trade but threats of volatility remain

The rand gained 0.4% against the greenback in early trade on Monday, continuing on from its good showing during the second half of last week. 

The local currency opened at R15.24/$ and was changing hands at R15.17/$ at 12:09.

Last week Wednesday it threatened to break the R16.00/$ in the wake at the announcement by Stats SA that the country was in a technical recession, but firmed on Thursday and Friday on positive account deficit statistics and suggestions its rapid fall may have been overblown. 

Jameel Ahmad, global head of currency strategy & market research at FXTM, said the rand would again take its cue from how investors view emerging markets.

" ... Particular attention [will be] paid towards how the Lira reacts to the latest Turkish GDP reading and the general threat of further trade tariffs from President Trump." 

Bianca Botes of Peregrine Treasury Solutions said in a morning note that rand volatility would remain high. She said on the local front, markets would be looking at statistics for manufacturing production, business confidence, retail sales and mining production

"The current economic tone provides no indication of upbeat figures and the hope here would be not to underperform market expectations," she said.   

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