The rand was on a shaky ground on Tuesday afternoon, feeling the squeeze of a stronger dollar, which has been volatile since the start of the year. The rand’s moves were in sync with other emerging-market currencies, including the Turkish lira and Indian rupee. The relative strength in the dollar came as US government bond yields climbed again, with the yield on the benchmark treasury paper touching its highest level in four years, at 2.90%. Markets were also on tenterhooks before the budget on Wednesday, which analysts have cautioned could temper momentum created by the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as President. "There is still scope for the rand to rally if the budget is able to balance out economic growth and fiscal consolidation," said Halen Bothma, economist at ETM Analytics. Moody’s, which is the only major ratings agency that has SA’s credit rating at investment grade, is set to deliver its ratings review shortly after the budget. Any further downgrade by Moody’s will lead to ...
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