What are we waking up to?

The pound is sharply higher this morning on Brexit hopes while the euro is off yesterday’s lows. Turkey has announced tax cuts despite their runaway inflation problems and the lira has weakened. This has not fed through to other emerging markets yet and the rand is trading firmer at 14.7200 to the US dollar at present.

US stock markets closed higher, led by the Nasdaq which was up 2%. Asian markets have continued this rally in equities. Yields in the US continue to rise with the 10 -year now at 3.16%.

Oil fell sharply to $74.00, while gold is unchanged from yesterday. The market focus will be on tomorrow's jobs data out of the US.

- TreasuryONE

The rand, which started on the back foot closer to R17.80/$, has seen some early gains, strengthening 0.47% to R14.71 to the greenback.

Bianca Botes, Corporate Treasury Manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions sees a bias towards the weaker end of the spectrum. She says US data in the afternoon could see the local currency stumble once more and expects the rand to trade between R14.64 and R14.82 to the dollar.

On Wednesday, trade balance figures disappointed, with South Africa recording a R2.9bn deficit.  This, coupled with a stronger global environment, saw the rand come under pressure, even trading above R14.80/$ during the US session.

The dollar reached a 16-month high yesterday as robust economic data continues to boost the greenback, says Botes. "With the rand trending toward euro performance, it is always interesting to see how a slump in the European common currency is reflected in the South African rand. The euro lost 2.5% against the dollar over the past month, to trade at its worst levels in five months.

"Additional pressures such as the increasing strain faced by the local government to service foreign debt obligations also took the spotlight yesterday following on from the mini budget," she says.

Latest currency moves

USDZAR    14.7221

EURUSD    1.1345

EURZAR    16.6938

GBPUSD    1.2850

GBPZAR    18.9084

AUDZAR    10.4872

CADZAR    11.1967

CNYZAR    2.1124

ZARJPY    7.6581

CHFZAR    14.6110

- TreasuryONE

Good morning, welcome to Fin24's Markets LIVE blog.

Here's a snapshot

The rand has seen some early gains, trading closer to R14.70 to the US dollar despite the greenback reaching 16-month highs on robust economic data.

Wall Street stocks rose solidly for the second straight session on Wednesday, easing the losses from a bruising month following good employment data and mostly solid earnings.

In Asia, Hong Kong stocks surged on Thursday morning, extending the previous day's strong gains as investors welcomed a pledge by China's leadership to support the stuttering economy, reports AFP.

Notable quotes

"Even after this morning's gains, global equity markets are left licking their wounds after a brutal month," XTB analyst David Cheetham told AFP.

"The question going forward now is whether the worst of it is over or if there's another wave of selling into year-end?"

Key figures around 02:30 GMT

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Down 0.8% at 21 749.78 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: Up 1.5% at 25 361.66

Shanghai - Composite: Up 1.1% at 2 630.97

Euro/dollar: Up at $1.1331 from $1.1322 at 20:30 GMT

Pound/dollar: Up at $1.2845 from $1.2771

Dollar/yen: Down at 112.76 from 112.86

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: Down 31 cents at $65.00 per barrel

Oil - Brent Crude: Down 34 cents at $74.70 per barrel (new contract)

New York - Dow: Up 1.0% at 25 115.76 (close)

London - FTSE 100: Up 1.3% at 7 128.10 (close)