The rand broke a four-day winning streak on Thursday, with focus turning to the appointment of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet members.
Still, the local currency remains around the strongest levels in months, having touched an intraday best of R17.9279 against the dollar.
TreasuryONE currency strategist Andre Cilliers said markets would now be watching Ramaphosa’s cabinet appointments with interest, and, “given the rapid pace of the rand’s strengthening over the past few days, we could see some consolidation in the short term”.
Ramaphosa, who was inaugurated for his second term as president on Wednesday, is expected to appoint his cabinet on Friday.
TimesLIVE reported on Wednesday that the ANC’s top brass had called for continuity in some key portfolios, including the economic cluster, with Enoch Godongwana likely to retain his position as finance minister.
“Considerable challenges still remain for the GNU [government of national unity] to work successfully and only time will tell whether we are on a sustainable political path,” said Cilliers.
At 5.40m, the rand had weakened 0.57% to R18.0645/$, 0.35% to R19.3432/€ and 0.66% to R22.9644/£. The euro was 0.38% weaker at $1.0706.
The JSE all share had lost 0.79% to 80.073 points and the top 40 0.72%.
Globally, Nvidia, a US-based chip company that has become Wall Street’s most influential stock, rallied once more on Thursday, helping to keep US indexes around their records despite a mixed set of reports on the economy, reports Bloomberg.
“Nvidia has surpassed Microsoft to become the most-valued stock on Wall Street, with a total market value exceeding $3.3-trillion. The company’s remarkable performance is largely attributed to the stock market’s enthusiasm for artificial intelligence technology, which Nvidia's chips are instrumental in powering,” said SPI Asset Management partner Stephen Innes.
“As proponents of AI predict significant growth in productivity and profits, Nvidia’s stock has surged 181.5% this year, after last year’s tripling. The impressive gains for Nvidia and other AI-related stocks have helped maintain the overall health of the stock market despite some economic challenges in the US,” said Innes.
At 6.05pm, the Dow Jones industrial average was 0.28% firmer at 38,943 points, while the S&P 500 had added 0.25%. In Europe, the FTSE 100 gained 0.82%, France’s CAC 40 0.56% and Germany’s DAX 1.03%.
In the commodities market, gold gained 1.17% to $2,356.68/oz and platinum 0.16% to $983/oz. Brent crude was 0.13% firmer at $85.45 a barrel.
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