The rand was hovering around R13/$ at 7am on Wednesday morning as the market waited to see how the drama between President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan would play out. While much coverage has been given to the rand’s swing from R12.32/$ before Zuma ordered Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, to return from an investor roadshow in London to R13.05/$, perhaps more alarming is the 42 basis point rise to 8.73% on the yield on government’s benchmark R186 bonds. According to Trading Economics, South African government debt is about $53.8bn, so Zuma’s move has added about $202m to the government’s annual interest bill. Winners in the rapidly sinking rand include synthetic oil producer Sasol whose share price jumped 5.89% to R382.21 on Tuesday. The JSE’s miners generally benefited from the weaker currency, led by African Rainbow Minerals, which gained 8.28% to R94.80. The sale of Naspers’s 36.4% stake in Souq.com to Amazon.com helped its shares rise 3.11% to R2,305.49 o...
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