The rand held steady on Monday morning, but could be vulnerable to political news headlines as National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete announces her decision on whether a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma will be voted on via a secret ballot. The decision is due in the afternoon. Opposition parties are hoping a secret vote will allow disaffected ANC MPs to vote against Zuma, whose leadership has come under intense scrutiny since his unpopular Cabinet reshuffle in March. At the time, Zuma fired the respected former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his then deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, an exercise that led S&P Global Ratings and Fitch to downgrade SA’s credit ratings. For all the political shocks, the rand has been relatively resilient so far in 2017, backed up in part by yield-seeking foreign investors. "The decision might prove to be fruitless ahead of tomorrow’s vote, but it will be interesting to see how markets digest it, with a slight short-term reaction plausible...
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