Andre Botha, Senior Dealer at TreasuryONE said the rand was in for a volatile week.

The rand was trading at R14.55 to the greenback by 11:04.

"The current narrative in the market apart from the trade war stories is the fact the market is imploring the Fed to cut rates in the medium term in order to avert the latest round of global growth concerns... 

"Furthermore, Trump has now got Mexico and India in his tariff sights. [This] has only reinforced the pessimistic outlook for global growth and it is only a matter of time before the recession debate hits the news wires. We have already seen a safe haven like Gold ramping up above the $1300 level on the back of the latest global growth concerns.

"The rand had a bit of a reprieve on Friday with the US dollar coming under pressure and [the currency] could continue to be under pressure should the calls for a cut in the US interest rate become louder. However, we expect a volatile week for the rand with major data releases out of the course of the week.

"We have the South African GDP number out tomorrow, which could confirm that there was a contraction in Quarter 1 in the South African economy. We also have the South African Current Account balance out on Thursday and the US non-farm payroll number out on Friday.

"All things considered, it could possibly be a dirt or champagne week for the rand with two-way risks [and] the rand could be below R14.5000 of near the R15.0000 level by weeks end."

Asian stocks extend slide, oil slumps on trade-war angst

Adam Haigh, Bloomberg

Asian stocks were mostly lower in the wake of trade-war jitters from the US tariffs looming against Mexico and China’s retaliation against American measures.

US and European stock futures slumped and most companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index were down. Declines in Japan left benchmarks closer to wiping out their gains for 2019, while shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong saw more modest declines. South Korean and Indian equities rose.

Ten-year Treasury yields hit fresh 21-month lows, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. saying there’s more downside to come. Oil extended the rout from May, when West Texas Intermediate tumbled 16% thanks to global demand worries.

“Trade is a tail risk that’s becoming bigger by the day,” Jun Bei Liu, a portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners, told Bloomberg TV in Sydney. “Investors right now are looking more at capital preservation before stepping into buy.”

May marked a brutal month for just about every asset class except bonds, with money managers seeking out the relative safety of Treasuries. And June began with China implementing retaliatory tariff hikes on Saturday.

Chinese officials are also planning action against “unreliable” foreign companies, with a list of violators pending. Meantime, President Donald Trump’s tariff moves against Mexico triggered a wave of forecast revisions among economists and strategists.

Traders are betting the Fed will cut its target rate by a half-percentage point by year-end, an outlook now matched by forecasts at JPMorgan and Natwest Markets. Morgan Stanley sees a recession in as soon as nine months if Trump puts 25% tariffs on the remainder of Chinese imports and China retaliates.