South African rand stronger as dollar rally stalls

South Africa’s rand firmed on Monday as a rally in the dollar stalled following a surprise hawkish shift from the U.S. Federal Reserve last week.

The rand lost more than 4% against the dollar last week as the Fed brought forward its projections for interest rate increases, prompting a sell-off in emerging market currencies.

At 1500 GMT, the rand traded at 14.2425 against the dollar, 0.89% firmer than its previous close as the dollar retreated from two-month highs.

“Markets likely overreacted somewhat to the FOMC members dot plot elevation last week, and it is quite possible the rand, and other EM currencies see some further strength in (third quarter) 2021, as the US certainly is not about to hike interest rates, or taper QE, yet,” Annabel Bishop, chief economist at Investec, said in a note.

“Indeed, EM portfolio assets still offer good returns, and as such will likely remain attractive.”

In the equities market, stocks fell as investors of market heavy-weight Naspers trimmed their positions after a rally in morning trade.

The broader Johannesburg All-Share index ended the day 0.11% weaker at 65,563 points while the Top-40 index fell 0.05%.

Consumer internet company Naspers hit a session high of 3,088 rand in early trade after posting strong full-year results, but closed 0.33% weaker at 3,040 rand.

“In the afternoon it (Naspers) had a bit of some profit taking. The share has been weak for a long time so I think folks wanting to get out are selling on the bounces,” BP Bernstein Portfolio Manager Gerhard Parkiin said.

Naspers’ European tech company Prosus however held on to its gains, with the Johannesburg-listed shares up 1.22% to 1,429 rand after saying its e-commerce business grew revenues and shrank trading losses for the year that ended March 31.

Government bonds weakened, with the yield on the 2030 bond up 12.5 basis point to 9.085%.