The rand perked up on Wednesday morning, partly benefiting from some improvement in global risk appetite. The rebound in US equities on Tuesday night set the tone, helping the rand to rally below the symbolic R12/$ handle. Earlier in the week, rising global yields in the developed economies sent global equities into a tailspin, dragging the rand along. Markets were also keeping a close watch on the future of President Jacob Zuma amid speculation that he could resign within days. Speculation reached fever pitch after Parliament postponed the state of the nation speech and the ANC postponed a special national executive committee (NEC) meeting, which was to decide Zuma’s fate. The governing party said the meeting was put off after Zuma and his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa held talks, which it described as fruitful and constructive. "The rand has ridden out the global storm with remarkable ease. Local politics has certainly helped — rand losses would have been much sharper if the global equit...
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