Rand has best November in 30 years as US Fed turns dovish
Trump’s disappointing election results and a more dovish tone from the US Federal Reserve have seen emerging-market currencies benefit
The rand, which suffered more than most from a collapse in emerging-market currencies earlier in 2018, is on track for its best November against the dollar in 30 years, and may be set for more support from a hawkish Reserve Bank. The rand has weakened in November in seven of the last 10 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gain of 8.1% this month is surpassed only by the 9.1% advance in November 1988. The rand's gain this month is the biggest among major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, and may herald more good news for consumers and motorists, who are already set for an almost R2/l drop in the petrol price in December. The currency, which is still down more than 9% to the dollar this year, got a boost after the Bank raised the repo rate on November 22 for the first time since 2016, boosting it by 25 basis points to 6.75%. While the inflation outlook improved since the September meeting, the monetary policy committee (MPC) expressed skepticism that this would last and...
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