| USD = R18.17 | AUD = R12.28 |
| GBP = R21.86 | DXY = 104.61 |
| EUR = R19.39 | Brent Crude = $84.23 per barrel |
Ramaphosa’s political paralysis on spectacular display as crucial decisions neglected read the Headlines Thursday morning.
A frenetic start to the new month the Rand seemed to hit a brick wall at 18.12 and all attempts to strengthen further, could not push below that level. After numerous attempts, it eventually drifted back up to the 18.20 mark. The movement lower was initiated by the firmer PMI data from China yesterday morning.
- March is already feeling miles away from February as far as the Rand is concerned with a move back below R18.00 looking increasingly likely. We opened at R18.29 to the Dollar yesterday and immediately strengthened to R18.13 where we hovered for most of the day. Our best level on the day was R18.09, let’s see if we can beat that today.
- China’s resurgence and the positive implications for commodity linked currencies is all you can read about out there, and long may that continue. It was always known that the Chinese economy is harbouring pent up demand after large swaths of their 1.3bn population had endured extended lockdowns, but the pace of their rebound over February surprised everyone. As one CNBC news anchor put it yesterday, the outsized annual GDP growth of around 10% per year in China since the turn of the century was the primary driver of global growth and if they are headed anywhere near those figures again that is great news for everyone.
ECB’s Lagarde: -The case for a 50 bps rate hike this month is still on the table as inflation is still too high “I see no recession on the horizon for the euro zone Interest won’t return to where they stood two or three years ago”.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Ryabkov stated “Russia will need to respond appropriately if the us conducts nuclear tests”.
Russia’s top miner, MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, is selling some of its metal in yuan at prices set in Shanghai, a sign of how the invasion of Ukraine is redrawing global commodity flows and handing greater power to China.
U.S. manufacturing contracted for a fourth straight month in February, but there were signs that factory activity was starting to stabilize, with a measure of new orders pulling back from a more than 2-1/2-year low. US ISM PMI came in below forecast at 47.7 while factory production did show a rebound. New orders PMI came in at 47.0 from 45.2 in January, showing inflationary pressures there still exist.
SPORT
Astonishing morning sees another 7 wickets fall as Proteas defend 247. At lunch the West Indies were 0/1 Proteas skipper Bavuma caps off miserable Centurion batting return with historic Test pair.