The rand was relatively flat on Friday morning, but still poised for another strong finish on the week, marked by a sense of unease over whether US President Donald Trump would be able to follow through on his promised fiscal policies. The broad dollar weakness and a batch of upbeat local data have been key catalysts for the rand, which reached another multimonth record high against the dollar this week. The local currency was trading close to R14/$ as recently as January, before advancing to current levels of R12.48. The stronger rand helps to rein in inflation, which decelerated to an annual rate of 6.3% in February, from 6.6% in January. "The rand is cascading down like a waterfall at the moment, with the rand hitting R 12.4300/$ as a run on R12.2000/$ seems ever more likely," TreasuryOne currency dealer Andre Botha said. "However, the feeling is that the rand is starting to get overextended and that was in evidence when looking at other emerging markets." At 8.49am, the rand was...
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