The rand remained fragile on Wednesday morning, a day after tumbling its most against the dollar since the UK vote to leave the EU in June as markets reacted negatively to fraud charges brought against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.The local currency also lost substantial ground against the euro and the pound in the aftermath of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decision, which has drawn criticism from various quarters, including organised business.NKC Research analysts said the development carried dire economic and financial consequences."Another sovereign credit rating downgrade is now highly probable and our view on the downgrade issue has been a case of ‘not if, but when’, and December now seems likely," the NKC analysts said.S&P Global Ratings, which has the country’s foreign currency rating at just one notch above sub-investment grade status, will review the decision in December.The credit rating downgrade would likely knock already fragile investor confidence and pot...
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