editor’s note
ROB ROSE: Who got the inside track?
Never before has anyone been found guilty of insider trading involving the rand. Could Pravingate change this?
Rumours are flying thick and fast that certain politically connected people made a killing betting against the rand on Friday. At the time, it was against the run of play, as the currency had been on a tear, gaining more than 20% in a year to hit R12.32/dollar. But by Monday, shorting the rand seemed a divinely inspired trade, as news trickled out that President Jacob Zuma had "recalled" finance minister Pravin Gordhan to SA. The dominos tumbled, taking the rand with them, first down to R13/dollar, then to R13.41 by the time Zuma sacked Gordhan and eight other ministers. By Tuesday, as the country digested S&P’s downgrade of SA’s rating to "junk", the rand hit R13.67. Anyone with forewarning of Zuma’s decision to bomb the country would have made out like a bandit. And not only with the rand: if they’d "shorted" bank shares, they’d have also done well. Since the news emerged, Standard Bank has shed 10.2%, FirstRand has lost 12.8%, Nedbank 10.3% and Barclays Africa 9%.But as Intellide...
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