International

The dollar extended further losses in Friday’s session, trading weaker against a basket of its rivals as dollar demand declined following a dip in US Treasury yields and as Chinese Evergrande woes and the anticipated increases in US interest rates continue to plague the market.  The dollar index fell to a low of 93.988 to finally end the session at 94.035

The euro was little changed and traded sideways throughout the day despite a weaker dollar and found little support from the release of the Eurozone core CPI index, which rose 1.9% in line with market expectations. The consumer price index printed at 3.4%.  The euro ended intraday trading flat at $1.1594/$ after reaching a high of $1.1607/$.

The pound ended the week on an upbeat note and rallied against both the euro and dollar despite reignited stagflation fears.  The cable remained resilient and consolidated on the upside to end the session at $1.3545/$ after reaching a high of $1.3575/$.

ZAR

The South African rand led the pack on Friday, ending the week strong alongside other emerging market currencies. The local unit clawed back some major gains on the back of a continued re-entry into risky assets, which saw the dollar lagging across global markets, with month end flows and positioning from global investors also adding the rand. The rand strengthened to a low of R14.8334/$ before ending the session at R14.8682/$.

On the data front we don’t have much locally, and internationally, we have Factory orders data from the US. The local unit will most likely continue to track global events and other market-moving events today.

Expected ranges for the day:

USDZAR R14.7500/$ – R15.0000/$

EURUSD $1.1550 – $1.1635

GBPUSD $1.3500– $1.3600

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