Rand pulls back from two-month lows amid volatile market
The rand is often viewed as a barometer of sentiment towards emerging markets, which are generally perceived as risky
The rand was relatively flat on Thursday afternoon, overcoming an initial slide during Asian trading that knocked it to its weakest level against the dollar in two months. The recovery, however, came despite the continued shaky global environment, which often discourages risk-taking among market participants. The rand is often viewed as a barometer of sentiment towards emerging markets, which are vulnerable because they are generally perceived as risky. Earlier, while Asian markets were still trading, the rand sank as much as 1.66% to R14.7017 to the dollar, its worst level in two months, before recouping most of its losses by the afternoon. Risk assets have had a rocky start to 2019, hurt by perceptions of decelerating global growth, which is partly blamed on the effect of a trade dispute between the US and China, although the world's two largest economies have since called a ceasefire.
The volatility in financial markets has fed perceptions that the US Federal Reserve could ...
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