The rand strengthened against hard global currencies on Monday afternoon ahead of the US presidential elections on Tuesday. The markets welcomed the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) decision to close the investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. This has increased Clinton’s chances of wining the presidential race over republican Donald Trump. Rand Merchant Bank analyst Celeste Fauconnier said a risk-on relief rally in global assets could be expected if Clinton won. On Monday, there was an 83% chance that she would win the election, Fauconnier said. NKC Research analyst Hanns Spangenberg said a possible victory for Republican Donald Trump was seen as adverse for the markets, and could result in a further postponement of an increase of higher US interest rates. At the US Federal Reserve’s federal open market committee meeting last week, the bank kept interest rates on hold, as expected. At 15.30pm, the rand was at R13.4814 to the dollar from Friday’s...
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