The rand was little changed on Thursday, with the JSE marginally firmer as investors assessed political uncertainty.
The local currency fell more than 1.2% in the previous session, touching the weakest level in more than a month after the ANC proposed a government of national unity for the next five years.
“Markets are concerned that Jacob Zuma’s MK party, along with the radical EFF will be part of this government, and what the impact might be on policy,” TreasuryOne currency strategist Andre Cilliers said.
“Traders are likely to remain on edge until there is some certainty on the way forward, and we expect trading in the rand to be fairly volatile and headline-driven in the short term,” he said.
At 10.40am, the rand was little changed at R18.9225/$, while it had strengthened 0.12% to R20.5655/€ and 0.24% to R23.1793/£. The euro was little changed at $1.0879.
Globally, investors await Friday’s US non-farm payrolls (NFP) report for May. Investors want to see some weakness creeping into the US labour market, which could support the rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
At 10.50am, the JSE all share had gained 0.3% to 77,060.56 and the top 40 was up 0.42%.
At the same time in Europe, the FTSE 100 had added 0.27%, France’s CAC 40 0.33% and Germany’s DAX 1.01%.
Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.54%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.28% and Japan’s Nikkei 0.55%.
In the commodity market, gold gained 0.35% to $2,363.21/oz and platinum 0.33% to $1,006.60/oz. Brent crude was 0.14% firmer at $78.53 a barrel.
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