The rand took a severe knock on Wednesday morning, joining a deep sell-off on world markets after the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took a lead in the country’s presidential election. The local currency fell as much as 5% against the dollar, its biggest one-day drop since the Brexit vote and lost substantial value against the euro and British pound too. The Mexican peso, a barometer of Trump’s fortunes, tumbled the most in eight years to its weakest level on record, while the Turkish lira sank to an all-time low. The three currencies were the hardest hit by Trump's victory. The prospect of a Trump presidency caught markets off guard after recent opinion polls favoured Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over Trump in the hotly contested election battle. "Brexit should have been a warning for the markets and instead, it appears four months is more than long enough for such a historic even to be forgotten," Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam said. Risk aversion...
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