The rand was trying to maintain its composure on Monday morning, in the wake of last week’s downgrades in its stride. On Friday, Fitch condemned SA’s foreign-currency and local-currency denominated debt to subinvestment grade, setting off the fear of fund outflows. The rand began the week only mildly weaker, and was near R13.85/$ in early trade, but later began weakening further. "The rand has stabilised but, rather than following the normal pattern of stability to recovery, we are concerned that it could come under pressure again at the start of this week," Rand Merchant Bank John Cairns said in a note. The Fitch decision followed that of S&P Global Ratings in downgrading the country’s credit rating, capping an eventful week that also featured nationwide protests over the Cabinet reshuffle. "Losing not only our foreign currency investment grade rating, but also the local currency investment grade rating is a blow to the economy," said NKC Research analysts. At 9am, the rand was at ...
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