Rand traders seem upbeat about Moody’s rating review
Asian shares have set a positive tone for the JSE, while in company news, flooring group Accentuate is to report a much deeper loss
Foreign exchange traders appeared confident Moody’s will not cut SA’s sovereign credit rating to junk on Friday, with the rand slightly stronger at R14.57/$ at 6.30am. The rand was trading at R16.91/€ and R19.29/£. Moody’s is scheduled to deliver its latest verdict on SA’s sovereign rating on Friday night. Of the big three credit ratings agencies, Moody’s is the only one to still rate South African government bonds above junk. It has held SA’s sovereign credit rating at Baa3 — equivalent to BBB- in the notation used by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch — since June 2017. Moody’s raised its outlook on SA to stable from negative in March, making it unlikely the country will suffer a credit rating cut without the ratings agency giving the prior warning of first lowering its outlook back to negative. With recently appointed finance minister Tito Mboweni scheduled to deliver his medium-term budget policy statement on October 24, Moody’s may announce it is delaying its verdict on SA for a few ...
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