Rand edges back from two-month lows while JSE holds up

The rand stabilised at about R14.53/$ Monday morning after weakening to R14.70/$ over the weekend, a level last seen in October.

The value of the local currency fell nearly 2% against the dollar late on Friday, hurt by the deterioration in sentiment towards risk assets, which left the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index down more than 20% over the past year — meaning it meets the common definition of bear market territory.

The JSE opened higher, though, as the weaker rand environment supported big rand-hedge stocks such Anglo Gold Ashanti.

But trading volumes were expected to be low due to due a shortened session ahead of the Christmas break.

"I think we are all struggling to make heads or tales of this market and while quantum physicist will tell you perception is 99% of reality, today's market volatility is more perception than reality," said Stephen Innes, analyst at UK-based Oanda.

Global risk markets have endured a rough ride in 2018, hobbled lately by global growth concerns.

The US stock market, which tends to set a tone for global markets, has lost $3-trillion in market value over the past three months, according to Bloomberg.

The JSE was on pace for its worst annual performance in a decade, according to the Iress data, with losses running into mid-teens.

Only a handful of big resource stocks managed to deliver double-digit returns, though Sasol and Mondi have off significantly in this fourth quarter.

Sasol the felt the squeeze of low international prices, which hovered at their lowest point in more than a year, at $54 a barrel. 

In early trading on Monday though, the all share was up 0.24% to 51,552.30 points, as top 40 gained 0.21%.

AngloGold Ashanti was up 2.07% to R179.86, its highest point since February since 2017.  Gold Fields was up 1.91% to  R47.22.

Quilter plce was up 2.29% to R21.48 while Old Mutual shed 1.19% to R22.47.

Mobile operator Vodacom gave up 1.9% to R126.63 but Telkom gained 2.56% to R63.24.

At 9.20am, the rand was 0.48% better against the dollar at R14.5792, 0.35% against euro at R16.6008, and 0.29% against the pound at R18.4818. The euro was 0.14% better against the dollar at $1.1417.

mahlangua@businesslive.co.za