The rand reacted surprisingly to the US central bank raising interest rates on Wednesday by strengthening from over R12/$ to R11.82/$, and was trading at R11.86/$ at 6.30am on Thursday morning.The rand was trading at R14.66 to the euro and R16.79 to the pound.As expected, new US Federal Reserve Bank chairman Jerome Powell announced a 25 basis point rise to 1.75% from 1.5% for the ceiling of the central bank’s interest rate target range.Although Powell indicated there would be two more interest rate increases in 2018, the dollar weakened against most currencies after his announcement at 8pm South African time.The UK’s central bank, the Bank of England (BOE), is scheduled to announce its interest rate decision at 2pm South African time on Thursday. It is expected to hold its interest rate at 0.5%, and signal it will raise interest rates in May.Rising interest rates tend to make bonds more attractive than stocks, leading to the Nasdaq composite index falling 0.26% and the S&P 500 index...
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