It is a scenario that would be all too familiar in SA’s volatile currency markets. The "flash crash" in which the British pound lost more than 6% in a matter of minutes in the early hours on Friday occurred during "Asian time", when only the Asian markets are open and thin trading means small trades, often by computers not people, can cause very big moves. What caused the crash is still not altogether clear. And although the beleaguered pound bounced back, it didn’t recover altogether. It had already been falling last week, and eventually was down more than 4% for the week as markets reacted to the rhetoric of the Conservative Party conference. It fell again on Monday. In effect, as one British commentator put it, the pound is playing the role of opposition party to the Tories, making the loud protests of the business community and the markets known to Prime Minister Theresa May and her cabinet. And it is making the protests known in ways that could come at some cost to the UK econo...
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