The rand was steady on Monday morning, but could take direction from a shaky dollar, which continues to be one of the main features on global markets. The local currency was little changed at R12.92/$, but the underlying trend remains positive, at least in the short term. The stronger rand works out favourably for importers, but tends to put pressure on exporters. As recently as two weeks ago, the rand exchanged hands at R13.63/$ before rebounding strongly, boosted in part by favourable sentiment towards emerging markets. Markets will pay attention to the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week at which plans to wind down its $4.2-trillion bond buying programme are likely to be discussed. The dollar, meanwhile, remains under pressure against a range of major currencies, affected in part by US politics, which led to the resignation of White House spokesperson Sean Spicer last week. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, including the euro, ...
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