The rand lived up to its status as the barometer of sentiment towards riskier assets, leading losses among emerging markets and slumping more than 4% as investors struggle to digest the outcome of key central bank policy meetings this week.

The biggest one of them, the US Federal Reserve (Fed), on Wednesday served up a 50 basis point (bps) increase in the benchmark rate as the central bank battles inflation at more than 40-year highs. An initial relief rally, which indicated some investors had been expecting a more aggressive hike of 75 bps, boosted stocks and pushed the rand up more than 2% on Wednesday...