Rand comes off best level, as Ramaphosa officially takes charge of SA
The rand was off its strongest levels on Thursday afternoon, after Cyril Ramaphosa officially took over as head of state, replacing Jacob Zuma, who left office prematurely under controversial circumstances. The political changes generated enough momentum to push the rand to an intraday three-year high to the dollar, at R11.59, a level far beyond most analysts’ expectations. As recently as Tuesday, Investec economist Annabel Bishop reinforced her earlier view that the rand could get to R11.70 to the dollar. Adding momentum to the rand was a weaker dollar, which seemed to decouple from rising government bond yields in the US. The yield on the 10-year treasury rose to its highest point in four years, at 2.92%. With Zuma now gone and Parliament having installed Ramaphosa, attention will shift to the state of the nation address, which will be delivered on Friday at about 7pm. This will be followed by the budget speech next week, which many perceive as a potential risk event that could pu...
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