Rand up as politics take back seat

Cape Town - The rand was trading on the front foot on Monday following news that the US have created fewer than expected jobs in August and as politics took a back seat while President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan attend the G-20 summit in China.

By 09:14 the rand was changing hands at R14.39/$ from Friday's close of R14.45/$. The local unit was trading at R19.17/£ and R16.08/€.

Wichard Cilliers, head of dealing and director at TreasuryOne, said the US jobs number did little to settle the Federal Reserve's rate debate and a September rate hike looks unlikely now. This spurred on risk assets in Asia this morning.

Adam Phillips of Umkhulu Consulting is still betting on a 0.25% rate hike in December in the US.

"Barring any surprising political news, the rand should venture into the 14.30’s as sentiment favours risk assets. There’s nothing worth noting in terms of data, and the US is on holiday today so liquidity should be thin."

The expected range for today is R14.20/$ – R14.70/$.